A Replacement
by Nikasha
Summary: Gold is privately in love with Silver. What happens when Silver finds out, and things aren't as Gold had pictured it would be? Preciousmetalshipping/huntershipping
1. A Weird Day

This is yaoi! If you do not like, DO NOT READ. All the same, if you flame me, I'll just laugh at you. There is some mastershipping in here, but it does not last. And I kill a fairly popular character in here so be wary! Also, there's some minor swearing.

* * *

><p>For Gold, it was just a normal day. He was skating down the road with his Typhlosion running alongside, panting and lolling its tongue like a dog.<p>

He didn't realize his day was about to get interesting.

Gold laughed, watching his Pokémon. "Come on, you can keep up!" he teased. He watched Typhlosion's eyes widen and it put on the brakes. "Wha-?"

Gold yelped as he felt his skateboard slam into something, inertia dragging him forward into the person. He fell on them and hissed as his palms scraped on the pavement. "Owwww…" he murmured, pushing himself up and scooting away from whoever he had just smashed.

"Gold! What the hell do you think you're doing?" shouted the 'victim.'

Gold looked up in surprise and saw Silver, red hair in his face, holding his ankles and looking furious.

Silver glared at him through metallic eyes. "Watch where you're going," he snarled.

Gold, never one to back down from a challenge, replied, "Tell that to Typhlosion, he was supposed to warn me." He stood, examining his scraped hands. "Tch," he muttered. "Now I'm bleeding."

"Suck it up," Silver said harshly. "You killed my toes."

Gold frowned at the slightly shorter person. "Sorry, sorry, I'm walking away now." As Gold did, collecting his skateboard and whistling for his Typhlosion, his thoughts were annoyed. _I know I ran over him, but who gave him the right to act so high and mighty_! he snarled inwardly. _I usually can stand how taciturn he is, but geez._

As he continued onwards, walking determinedly, Typhlosion hummed in a worried way.

Gold smiled at it. "I'm fine," he muttered. "It's nothing."

Typhlosion looked forward again, accepting his proclamation without protest.

As Gold walked away, irritated, he ignored the urge to see what Silver was going. _Probably walking away, _he thought, shaking himself.

By the time he arrived home, his hands were jammed in his pockets to keep the air off of them and his eyes were moodily downcast. As he kicked off his shoes, Typhlosion gave a mighty sniff and rumbled.

"What's up?" Gold asked and sniffed also. "Mmm, hey, mom, what's for dinner? Smells good!"

His mom popped around the corner and smiled. "I thought we might as well eat pasta. You hungry?"

"You betcha," Gold replied amiably. He glanced at Typhlosion and added, "Let me feed the kids first."

As Gold scooped bowls of Pokémon food from various sacks on the back porch, the Pokémon gathered, attracted by the smell. Gold sat back once he was finished, brooding again.

Pika's son, a still fairly young Pichu with hair styled like Gold's own, looked up at the trainer and tilted his head. "Pich?" he whimpered.

Gold smiled at Pichu. "I'm fine, man," he answered, tugging one of the large yellow ears lightly. "Don't worry."

Pichu huffed, but made no further reply; he was far more interested in dinner. Gold stepped back inside, closing the sliding glass door. As he marched into the kitchen, his mother noticed that he seemed distracted, as he wasn't being his usual obnoxious self.

"Are you okay, Gold?" she asked carefully.

"Mm, I'm fine," he answered, grabbing a plate.

His mother hovered, deliberating whether or not to press the matter. She decided she couldn't lose anything. "You're not fine and we both know it. Seriously, what's up?"

"Oh, it's nothing, really," Gold sighed, plunking his plate down next to the pot of spaghetti. "I accidentally ran into a friend earlier today with my skateboard and he was pretty mad. Nothing big."

His mom sighed and gave up.

As Gold sat and ate his dinner, silence prevailed. It was a bit of a blessing, since usually his siblings were wreaking havoc, but it was marred by his preoccupation.

When Gold finally retreated into his room, he lay on his bed with his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling. _Maybe I should apologize,_ he thought. _Surely that had to have hurt his feet…_ Reminded of his hands, they began to ache again and he went to run water over them.

As he sat with his hands in the hot water, he continued to think. _I'll go apologize,_ he decided. _But while I'm at it, might as well ask why he was being such a headache._ He sighed and rested his weight against the wall. _Not that he'll tell me._ He turned off the tap. As he dried his hands, he hoped Silver would answer the door—or even be home.

Gold left, grabbing Pichu on the way out. As he stepped up in front of Silver's door, he felt a thrill of excitement and worry. _I swear, if he shuts the door in my face, I may just crumble._ He inhaled and exhaled. Then he knocked.

There was silence, then a faint clattering.

"Sneasel!"

The Pokémon came up behind the door, looking a bit surprised and upset. Silver came walking down the stairs rather gracefully soon after that in his usual black and red attire. Gold faintly heard him ask, "Who is it?" Their eyes met.

Ignoring the very annoying melting feeling in his chest, Gold noticed Silver seemed pleasantly surprised at first. But then he covered the expression with a mask of anger. "What do you want?" he asked, stalking to the door and wrenching it open. "My feet haven't quite recovered from our last encounter."

Gold felt hurt by the statement, but he hid it. "I wanted to apologize for that," he replied stoically as Pichu jumped down from his shoulder and greeted Sneasel. "I didn't mean to run into you."

"I should hope not," silver snapped nastily.

Gold sighed and threw his arms behind his head with a grin. "I came to apologize and I did," he remarked. "Now it's your turn to say it's okay, and I'll be on my way."

A funny look came into Silver's eyes—almost like he wanted to laugh, but was afraid to. "Fine," the redhead growled. "It's alright. Now go away."

"Sounds good to me," Gold replied, but he spotted Pichu, who was immersed in communicating with Sneasel. The ice-type seemed interested in the conversation, nodding and replying every now and then. "Hang on," Gold said. "Let them finish talking."

Silver looked down and frowned; Gold knew Sneasel didn't talk much with other Pokémon, so it must have been surprising to see it acting so friendly.

As the Pokémon chatted, Gold and Silver watched, tense. Gold couldn't deny that he found Silver fascinating, but it annoyed the crap out of him. Silver was a jerk; why did Gold keep trying to see him again? Even now, here he was, running back, holding on to the moment.

Silver finally snapped his fingers at Sneasel, and the Pokémon blinked at him, and then ran inside.

Pichu murmured, "Chu," then scrambled up Gold's shoulder.

An awkward silence prevailed. Gold didn't want to leave, and for some reason, Silver wasn't kicking him off the porch. Finally, Gold said, "Well…See you later I guess."

"Are your hands okay?" Silver blurted okay, and then blinked in surprise at his own audacity.

Gold was startled, too. "Er, yeah I put some medicine on them and it doesn't hurt anymore. How are you?"

"Ahm, fine, just a little bruised," Silver answered, not looking at Gold.

"I really am sorry about that," Gold murmured, not looking at Silver, either.

"I know," Silver whispered.

They stayed like that a moment, air thick with tension. Then Gold decided he had had enough of the moment. "Well, I'd better go. Bye."

"See you," Silver replied quietly, and shut the door.

Gold walked off, glancing back at the door a couple times.

Pichu interrupted his thoughts by tugging on his ear and growling, "Piiii!"

Gold jerked. "Sorry," he murmured and started walking again. "So, Pichu, what'd you talk to Sneasel about?"

As Pichu chattered, using its tail and little arms to try to explain, Gold focused on that rather than his encounter with Silver to distract him.

He did get some of it. "So Sneasel said Silver is sad?" Gold questioned, wondering at it.

"Chu," the Pokémon confirmed. It went on to say that apparently Silver had felt bad for yelling earlier.

Gold shook his head. "I think Sneasel was playing games with you, buddy," he sighed. "There's no way Silver would feel bad about yelling at ME. He does it every time we meet."

"Hey, Gold!"

The Pokémon trainer looked up and took in Crystal from underneath his bangs. "Oh, hey."

"What's the matter?" she inquired, tilting her head. "You look down."

_What's with women and butting into other people's business?_ he wondered vaguely. "I'm fine," he replied. "Just talking to Pichu."

"Can you understand him?" she asked, surprised.

"Sometimes, and just broad subjects like emotions," Gold replied. "Anyway, do you need something?"

"No, I just saw my best friend walking down the street with a really weird look on his face and decided I'd ask if he was okay," she retorted.

"Let me know what he says," he joked with a slight smirk.

But apparently it wasn't up to par, because she said, "He seems kind of down still, actually."

Gold threw her a leave-it-be look, which she usually didn't need, but seemed to at the moment. "Again, I'm fine. Why don't you go pick on Silver or something?"

"Silver's no fun to talk to if you're not there," she sighed dramatically, throwing her hands up. "I swear you two are meant for each other."

Gold somehow managed to hide his blush, although it was a near miss. "That's ridiculous. Go talk to him, I think he needs it…He's such a girl." Gold refused to look at Crys, not wanting to see her reaction to this statement.

After a second or two, she finally said, "Well, if you insist." Then she took off down the road, humming a tune.

Gold watched her go, a bit gloomy. She would see Silver soon, and he wouldn't. _No, stop, don't think like that, _he told himself, shaking his head fiercely. _He's just a really good friend._

Gold kept walking, not sure where he was going, and not really caring, thinking about Silver. Next thing he knew, he felt a sharp pain in his ear and yelped. It had gotten dark and he found himself on the outskirts of town among the tall grass. Pichu was bristling with fear and aggression, and had bit him to wake him up.

He checked his ear for blood and found just little indentions. "Hey, I'm sorry," he murmured, petting Pichu and looking around. "Where are we?"

"Piii…."

As Gold started trying to walk back towards the town, he noticed that Pichu was still very nervous. There was rustling to his right and he spun, reaching for a Pokéball from his waist. He noticed that they were absent, having only taken Pichu from home. He swore softly and looked at his opponent, a Sentret, warily. He glanced at Pichu and asked, "Can you take care of it?"

"Pi!" the Pokémon exclaimed and leapt down before running forward and charging up, sparks flying from its cheeks.

Gold ordered, "Thundershock!"

Pichu discharged with a cry, and the Sentret yelped as the electricity hit it. Without a second thought, it turned and ran, sparks dashing through its fur.

Gold sighed and smiled at Pichu. "Atta boy," he murmured as he picked up the Pichu. He heard more rustling and spun to confront it. But then he paused as someone from that direction yelled, "Gold!"

"I'm over here!" Gold shouted, relieved to hear a friendly voice. Suddenly, another Pokémon popped out of the bushes. It was a Geodude.

The Pokémon and Gold stared in surprise for a minute. Then Geodude growled, Pichu snarled, and Gold yelped all at the same time.

As Gold tried to regain his feet, he saw Silver appear from the grass, a very panicky look on his face.

"Gold!" Silver cried, and then took in what he was seeing. The worried look vanished. "What happened?"

"Pichu scared a Geodude," Gold replied, trying to the hide the fact that he had turned bright red at being found in such an embarrassing situation by Silver of all people. Pichu trotted over and Gold picked him up, then stood and brushed off his shorts.

Silver nodded sharply. "Let's go home," he said. "We need to get you out of here."

"Sounds good," Gold answered with his customary smirk. To his surprise, Silver gave him a long look until the smirk disappeared. Then he turned and started following his grass-slashing Sneasel.

Gold wondered at it while following Silver out. Silver couldn't possibly like him…could he? It wouldn't be too far-fetched for Sneasel's owner to be gay, but he was so cold towards everyone, what if he was just trying to tell Gold to lay off? He sighed inwardly.

Silver suddenly stopped, Gold nearly running into him. He slowly turned around and Gold squinted at his shadowy face, expression hidden in the night.

"Look, Gold…" he murmured gruffly. "There's something I need to tell you."

"What?" Inside, Gold's stomach had been subjected to extreme gravity. His mind raced and yet was numb. _What's he going to say?_

"I'm…Well, I like guys," Silver said, fidgeting.

Gold felt like barking out, "I'm bi, let's go out," but, for once, the words just wouldn't come out.

Silver took a deep breath. "I…I like you a lot," the redhead confessed, expression still hidden. "I wish you would stop looking at me like that, like I'm just a friend, like I'm someone you can't be close to."

Gold was still mute. _SAY SOMETHING, DAMMIT!_ he screamed inwardly at himself. "M-Me, too," he coughed up. Pitiful. His spirits lifted, however, knowing that his secret was finally out.

Although he couldn't see Silver's face, he heard his sharp intake of breath. "I…I was kind of hoping you'd shoot me down, actually," he grumbled.

Did Gold have a heart? At the moment he wasn't sure. It seemed to have taken a vacation to his feet. "What?" he whispered, too floored to stammer.

"Well, you see, I'm kind of dating Lance," Silver explained. "And I want to stop being distracted by you, so I thought if I said something, you'd get annoyed or disgusted and stop talking to me or something. Then I'd feel devoted to him like I should be. But…"

Gold just plopped down in the grass, hoping his face was just as hidden as Silver's. And then he put his face in his hands and tried not to have a mental breakdown; apparently all those years he'd been telling himself 'He's just a friend' hadn't gone as well as he thought they had.

He heard Silver murmur, "Gold?" and kneel down by him. "Gold, I'm so sorry. If I had known that was going to happen, I wouldn't have said anything."

Gold's voice was shaky as he replied. "Better now than never."

He felt Silver stiffen, and then relax again. "…I'm really, really, really sorry. It's why I was always so pissed at you, you know," he confessed. "I couldn't take that you took my attention so much just by walking near me. I swear, when you ran me over, I almost tried to kiss you because you were so close, but I managed not to, and got mad about it. Well, and a little mad at you hitting me, that hurt…"

Gold chuckled weakly, still fighting a breakdown. He wished Silver would just leave now. He needed a good, private cry.

Pichu nuzzled his cheek with a concerned, "Chuuu." Gold grabbed Pichu off his shoulder and hugged him, a fairly rare occurrence. Pichu gave Silver a very nasty look out of Gold's sight.

Silver mouthed another apology to the Pokémon, who just growled, when Gold squeezed the mouse-type slightly. "Stop," he rasped. "It's okay."

Silver asked, "Are you…Are you going to be okay?"

"Someday, surely," Gold replied heavily.

"If it makes you feel better," Silver whispered. "I think I'm in love with you and not Lance. If you can just wait it out—"

"I'm not going to become his replacement," Gold murmured.

Silver suddenly leaned in and pressed his lips to Gold's. As their faces came into each other's sight, they noticed both of them were crying. Gold closed his eyes, leaning into it, wrapping his arms around Silver and holding him close. He felt so wonderful and so horrible. He never wanted the moment to end, he wanted to stay this way until the world collapsed. But it couldn't.

Silver finally pulled away, keeping Gold from trying to kiss him again in the heat of the moment by pressing his hands on his shoulders. "You'd never be a replacement," he whispered harshly. "Never."

Gold felt his throat start choking up, and he staggered to his feet. "Damn you," he whispered. He was messed up emotionally, both pissed and very happy.

"Wait, Gold, please!" Silver cried as the other boy began to walk away from him in a random direction, Pichu running after him after a baffled glance at Sneasel.

Gold didn't look back. He deafened himself to Silver's pleas, knowing the redhead could not and would not follow him. He blundered on, oblivious.

_He loves me._

_And I hate him for it._

* * *

><p>It gets so much more interesting…I already have like two more chapters written, but I'm going to wait for some people to start reading before I put those up. Watch out for cliffhangers, I'm bad about that X3. R&amp;R, I'm always striving to improve. Hope you enjoy it!<p> 


	2. Gold Hates Dragons

First off, thanks for all the reviews! They were really encouraging (I was nervous about how this would be received). And since I got my goal of four reviews, I'm putting this up today rather than, say…Saturday. Three cheers for reviews!

Oh, I forgot the disclaimer in the last chapter, but I think we all know I don't own Pokémon. I'd be publishing these for real if I did X3.

On a slight tangent, I don't think copyrights are really necessary. Clearly if the story is up on FANfiction, then the original belongs to someone else. Just saying~

And without further ado (aka blab) please enjoy!

* * *

><p>Gold listened to the tapping of his pencil, mesmerized. He was lying with his head on his desk, staring at the coffee cup full of pencils and pens. It was hot, so he had a fan going and a cup of water perspiring on his nightstand. It had been two weeks since his and Silver's disastrous confrontation.<p>

Gold stopped tapping his pencil, eyes closed. _What should I do?_ he wondered vaguely. _I can't keep this façade up, and people are beginning to notice my awkwardness._ He smacked his head down on his desk and groaned.

He heard the door open. "Hey, sweetie, is there anything I can get you?"

_A life._ "No, thanks, mom, I'm fine," he answered, not looking up. The pencil started tapping again.

"Ok," she replied. "Make sure to go outside and get some sun."

"Mmm," he grumbled as the door shut. He swiped up his cellphone and examined it, contemplating. Then he slid it open, revealing a picture of him, Crys, and Silver all with their starters, and began texting Crys. **How's Silver?** He wanted to know, even if it would bother him if it turned out Silver was completely fine.

After more pencil tapping, Crys finally answered. **Alright. He seems gloomier lately, though. Did you two have a fight?**

Gold thought about giving her a white lie, even typing it in, before he backspaced it. Crys wasn't stupid, she probably had known that Silver and Gold had been crushing on each other for a while now. He spilled the story.

He didn't get an answer until he had gotten sick of doing nothing and got up, grabbing his glass of water and searching for something to draw on.

When his phone began ringing, Gold just stared at it blankly for a minute or two. Then he picked it up and slid it open.

"Oh, Gold, that sounds horrible," Crys said after they exchanged greetings. "I'm not quite sure what to tell you, but I know that Silver really meant every word he said about liking you. I dunno what's going to happen, but at least know that."

Gold didn't answer for a moment or two, trying to control his voice. He was a little ticked that he kept getting choked up at the subject like a girl. "That just makes it worse. We can't be together!"

"Gold," she suddenly snapped, startling him; Crys wasn't normally temperamental. "If you really love him, him being with Lance should piss you off! Fight for him! What's with you? You're normally so outgoing about everything."

"I don't want him to be unhappy," Gold whispered. "I don't want to be a replacement."

"You won't be," she said. "Stop being passive. Fight for him, or you'll lose him."

Gold banged his head on the desk again, but less harshly this time. "I can't," he snapped. "If I lose—"

"You're losing by not fighting at all," Crys replied. "I'm kinda busy right now, so I'll talk to you later, but you need to decide just how much you like him." Then she hung up the phone.

Gold slowly lowered it and placed it in the middle of the desk. He then put his head in his hands and wondered what to do. According to Crys, he should just let Silver continue to know that Gold liked him, but stay out of the way of Lance until something happened. He wondered if he could do that without trying to kill Lance, and giving Silver a serious case of emotional confusion.

He got up and started pacing his room, thinking about it. All this thinking about everything recently was giving him a headache. Maybe he should just go back to his old ways; leap before you think. It always seemed to work, even if occasionally he did have to think for things to work out.

Gold sat down and sighed. This was getting annoying. He would just talk to Silver and go back to being friends and pretending there was nothing between them. It had to be better than sitting around mulling over something that was only making things worse.

Gold stood, decision made. He went downstairs and as he hit the last step, he asked, "Hey, mom, have the Pokémon been fed?"

"Yes," she replied, working at a scrapbook. "However, I think your team could use a run. They're getting restless."

"Okay." He was a bit surprised when she jerked her head up like she was startled by this. _Guess I didn't do a good job of acting normal_, he thought, although he was hoping it was just his mom being intuitive. She smiled at him and said, "They're out back."

"Right," Gold answered and went to collect them. When he saw them, Pichu gave him a look that made him recall the saying 'if looks could kill.' But then the little Pokémon looked him over and sniffed, then smiled with a happy, "Pichu!" like it could sense he was back in the zone.

The rest of the Pokémon looked up in surprise and trotted over to sniff him.

Gold laughed, almost being pushed over. "Guys, guys, stop it," he said. "You're gonna hurt me!"

Gold grabbed his skateboard and they all ran out the door.

He threw it down and they started off. Gold felt happier than he had in a long time, with nothing big weighing him down and being out with just his closest Pokémon. As he skated along, Pichu on his shoulder and the others running alongside him, he laughed at the face the little yellow Pokémon was making and didn't notice the person in front of him until he was about to collide with them. Right before he hit, though, something pale brown darted between them and grabbed Gold, halting his movement.

Gold gasped as the wind was knocked out of him, and Pichu began screeching at whatever it was and darted up to its head, between its antennae.

The Dragonite dropped Gold and began trying to remove Pichu from its head, growling irritably. Gold, still unable to breathe, couldn't command Pichu to get down, and watched in terror as the electric Pokémon ran around, avoiding Dragonite's arms.

Gold saw the man he had been about to run into step around Dragonite and examine the Pichu. He reached up a hand and closed his eyes.

Gold watched in confusion, expecting at any moment to be having to race to Pichu's defense.

But the Dragonite stopped moving, and Pichu froze as he noticed the man. The guy dropped his hand and opened his dragon-like eyes. "Don't be angry, Pichu. He was only protecting me." He turned to Gold and the trainer felt even more breathless than the moment before—but in an awed way. "I'm sorry about knocking the wind out of you, but you should really watch where you're going. I assume you're Gold?"

"How do you know my name?" he inquired. "I've never seen you before."

"Perhaps you'll understand if I say my name is Lance," the man replied.

Gold felt suddenly as if he'd been punched. He should have recognized the signs: a cape, pinkish spiky hair, a Dragonite. But something in his mind had blocked off the unwanted information.

He really did not want to meet this guy.

He found his voice and air finally, although he had to cough before he could speak without rasping. "Yeah, I get it now," he replied carefully. "Are you here to see Silver?"

Lance exchanged a glance with Dragonite, making Gold curious. "Yes, I am," the dragon master replied slowly. "But I was actually here to see about something else as well. Have you heard of Team Rocket?"

Gold's expression darkened. "I think everyone on the planet has heard that name at some point."

Lance smiled a little. "Yes. Well, anyway, they have a really good Pokémon poacher out, and I've been tracking him to catch him. It seems he made his way here."

"Is he very dangerous?" Gold asked sharply, worried about Silver.

Lance seemed to sense the vague origins of his thoughts. "I'll take care of Silver," he said, a little smugly. "But anyone with a rare Pokémon should keep an eye on it."

Gold glanced at Typhlosion. "I'd better warn Crystal."

"And I will tell Silver," Lance commented, and Gold wondered for a moment if Lance guessed he had feelings for Silver. But the way he acted, he must have trusted Silver enough not to worry about it. "I'll leave Crystal to you. And Gold…"

The black-haired trainer gave Lance a questioning look.

"…be careful yourself," Lance finished and then, with a nod, went on his way.

Gold clenched one hand into a fist. Now he could understand how Silver had fallen for Lance; despite being a genocidal maniac, his presence was powerful and clearly he was smart. Gold turned, scraping up his skateboard and collecting his Pokémon, and headed for Crystal's house, right next to his own.

Crys answered the door with a Sneasel on her shoulder and looked shocked. "Gold!" she yelped. "You're out and about, huh?"

"Gold?" said a familiar voice and he cringed; Silver and Lance both in one day, right after deciding to ignore his feelings, was a bit harsh.

"Busy, huh?" he complained to Crys.

Crys gave him a pitying look, but she couldn't hide him now. "He's at the door, Silver," she threw over her shoulder. "Want to talk to him?"

"Actually, I came to speak with you," Gold interrupted quickly.

Crys blinked. "About what?"

"Lance is here," he said softly and she frowned. "He said he's tailing a Rocket Pokémon poacher, and if you have a rare Pokémon, to keep an eye on it."

Crys instantly looked worried. "Let me get Meganium before we keep talking," she said and hurried off.

To Gold's surprise, Silver came to the door and gave him a long look. Then the redhead said in a neutral way, "How are you?"

_I want to kiss you really freaking bad right now._ Trying to subdue the urge, he sounded gruff when he replied. "Fine. And you?"

"Same," Silver quipped.

Their conversation hit the wall there and they sat and stared at each other. Finally, Silver's curiosity won out over his stubbornness. "What did you tell Crystal?"

"Your boyfriend made it very clear that you'll hear that from him," he answered, unable to keep a hostile note out of his voice. So far his resolution was falling to pieces.

But Silver's surprise leeched the anger out of their talk. "Lance is here?" he said, eyes widening.

Gold felt a deep-rooted sense of weakness. Clearly he was never going to win any contest with the dragon tamer. He sighed, "Yeah, he's here."

"You met him?" Silver sounded wary.

"I almost ran over him," Gold snorted. At the moment, he was wishing the stupid Dragonite hadn't gotten in the way, so he could have knocked Lance around a bit.

Silver looked almost relieved and Gold had a thought.

"You didn't think I'd like him, did you?" Gold exclaimed, horrified. Silver's face turned a shade of red close to his hair. Although things were getting out of hand, he had to say, "Silver, you're the only guy I've ever liked. Not to mention Lance creeps me out something fierce."

Silver actually smiled, startling Gold. "I told Lance you wouldn't like him," he commented. "That you'd be jealous."

"I am not!" Gold snapped indignantly. Then he took a second to examine his outrage and found out yes, he was furiously jealous. Like Crys had said it should, thinking about Silver being with Lance pissed him off.

Crys trotted back in, Meganium on her hip. "Sorry, it was out back," she panted. "Er, what's with the tension? You guys are scaring me a bit."

"It's part of our unique situation," Silver said with a hint of sarcasm, making Gold frown.

"I'm sure that would infinitely please Lance," Crys remarked dryly, bringing Gold to his senses.

"I'd better go," the black-haired trainer said. "I'm sure Lance will come around here eventually, trying to find you, Silver."

The redhead frowned slightly. "Right," he replied. "I'd better go see if he's at my house."

"Do you want me to walk with you?" Gold asked the doormat.

"It'd be safer if you didn't," Silver answered quietly. Gold knew he wasn't talking about the poacher.

"Ok. Well, see you guys later," Gold said and headed home. The door shutting behind him sounded depressingly final. _Damn Lance,_ Gold thought grumpily.

* * *

><p>Oh, Gold, you and your skateboard.<p>

First off, sorry it's rather short. The next one will make up for it ten-fold (mainly in action!). Second off, random thought: probably the worst thing about writing a story is the fact that you have to read it over and over…and over. Not only to check for mistakes, but to make sure the storyline stays solid, if you need inspiration, if you want to make sure the character's personality stays similar, etc. At least the good thing is I know where everything is on the file that contains all of the writing in one on my phone, so if I need to check something I can just skip to it.

R&R, I've still got a goal to hit before I can publish the next one! X3


	3. Kill Him

Thanks for all the reviews and even people reading this in the background! I reread those reviews like everyday because they make me happy and most of them make me laugh. I also got a few inspired moments from comments.

Alright, here's the most exciting chapter I've written so far! X3 I don't want to give anything away, so enjoy!

Oh, and there is a slight time gap from the last chapter to here, but it's not big, only a couple days.

* * *

><p>Gold was sitting in his room playing video games and drinking soda. As he blasted a guy from a rooftop, his cellphone started ringing. He picked it up and tucked it between his cheek and shoulder without pausing or checking the caller ID. "Hello?"<p>

"Gold, it's Crys, I can't find Silver!" She sounded panicky.

He didn't waver in his conquering of the game. "Are you sure he's not just out somewhere with Lance or something?" he asked, stomach clenching at the thought.

"I'm sure, because for one thing, Lance has been focused on tracking the poacher lately, and two, Lance is with me."

Gold dropped the controller. "Neither of you know where Silver is?" he inquired urgently.

There was a moment of faint scuffing as Crys handed off the phone. Then he heard Lance on the other end of the line. "Gold, how long has it been since you and Silver spoke?"

"A couple days," he replied instantly; it seemed he unconsciously kept track of the time now. "What about you?"

"He said he was going to talk to you this morning," Lance said and Gold shuddered. "I've checked up and down the route, but…"

"He couldn't get caught that easily, he's too strong of a trainer," Gold murmured, thinking. Then it hit him. "Oh."

"What?" Lance asked curiously.

"Well, he's a very good trainer, and very fast, but if someone caught him by surprise, they could easily overpower him."

Lance sounded almost forcefully calm when he spoke again. "I'm going to look again. I suggest you look as well."

"Of course," Gold began and managed to cut off the rest of his sentence. _Of course, I would never leave Silver._

Lance hung up the phone and Gold began dashing around, grabbing the stuff he would need which consisted of his team, his hat, and his cue. He ran out the door, shouting, "I'll be back later, mom!"

He immediately began checking for signs around the road near his house, although he had hunch that Silver had never made it anywhere near his house. He would have heard the sounds of battling.

Crystal dashed out of her house next door and caught up with him, her Meganium at her side. "Anything?" she asked.

"No, but I just got out here," Gold answered, trying to keep their hopes up. He set loose his Typhlosion and Togekiss. "Look for Silver," he ordered them, and they took off.

"Is it smart to send two rare Pokémon charging after a poacher?" Crys asked sardonically.

Gold rolled his eyes. "Maybe not, but at the moment, I'll take my chances."

They had been searching for a few minutes when Typhlosion growled and they ran to see what he had found. He had found Sneasel, sitting in the bushes with slashes all over it and severe burns. Gold hissed and ran forward to cautiously pick it up. "Where's Silver?" he murmured urgently.

Sneasel blinked up at him and rasped.

Pichu released itself and scrambled up to Gold's shoulder. It listened to Sneasel cough out a few words, then explained them to Gold.

When the trainer got the message, his arms tightened around Sneasel in frustration. "He doesn't know," he translated to Crys. Togekiss unfortunately chose that moment to fly down and hover around Gold, making discouraged sounds.

Gold ground his teeth together and began running through the forest, crying, "Silver! Silver!"

Crys, fortunately, caught up to him fairly quick and covered his mouth before he could scream again "Stupid!" she hissed. "If you run around yelling, the poacher will drag Silver off somewhere."

"So you do think the poacher took Silver?" Gold said from behind her hand.

"Well, no one else would capture a person, and Silver has two rare Pokémon with him, that red Gyarados and his Feraligatr."

Gold resolved darkly to take away the Gyarados as soon as he could.

Crys let him go and commented, "You're squeezing Sneasel to death."

Gold looked down and loosened his grip. "Oh, sorry."

Suddenly, they heard shouting deeper in the forest in the direction they had been heading. Gold immediately plunged forward, racing towards the voices. He came out upon a scene that seemed to be all his nightmares rolled into one.

Lance stood with a Dragonair out in front of him, facing a black-haired man in Team Rocket uniform who had a Tyranitar in front of him. The dinosaur Pokemon was staring at Lance in a manner that clearly said the poacher had stolen it from the dragon master. Silver was behind the two of them, tied at his wrists and ankles to a tree with a Scizor holding a claw around his throat. Silver was glowering furiously, clearly angry and looking like he wanted to help.

Gold let out a choked cry and all of them looked over at him, but when he locked eyes with Silver, the other three disappeared. "Silver!" he whispered worriedly.

Silver glanced at Lance and back to Gold, then at Lance again, like he was saying, "Well, help him, stupid."

Lance and the Rocket were having a stare-down. Finally Lance ordered, "Dragonair, use Psychic!"

As the Dragonair's eyes began to glow, the Rocket gave Scizor a glance. The claw tightened on Silver and he whimpered involuntarily. Dragonair immediately stopped.

Lance scowled. "Dirty cheat!" he snapped. "Fight me like a real trainer!"

The Rocket smirked and shrugged. When he spoke, his voice was surprisingly normal. "I'll take what I can get in order to beat you, Lance of the Elite Four," he explained.

Gold handed Sneasel over to Crys and whistled for Typhlosion, who came bounding out of the bushes. It snarled and lit the mane of fire on its back. Togekiss swirled overhead, piping haunting music.

The Rocketeer gave Typhlosion and Togekiss an appreciative look before turning back to Lance and the threat he presented. "No one move, or I'll hurt pretty boy," he said quite cheerfully.

No one moved.

The poacher smiled and twirled a Pokéball around in his hand. "Return your Pokémon."

"Don't!" Silver growled through gritted teeth.

Lance and Gold obeyed without question, scowling.

The poacher grinned and told Tyranitar, "Kill Lance."

Silver and Crys cried out in reply as Tyranitar whined and Gold ground his teeth together. Silver began struggling against his bonds ferociously, even while blood began to trickle from his wrists and neck where Scizor and the ropes held him. Lance just frowned up at Tyranitar.

The green Pokémon whimpered, a bizarre sound from something so large, clearly not wanting to strike. But Lance spread his arms and said, "It's fine. He'll hurt Silver if you don't."

Silver then shouted, "Don't you dare!" but the rope was hurting him, and he stopped struggling.

Gold glanced between Sneasel and the ropes thoughtfully.

The poacher glanced at Scizor and Silver went very still as the claw bit deeper into his skin.

"Tyranitar!" Lance snapped angrily. The Pokémon whined again, and then inhaled, preparing an attack.

Silver started crying.

Gold was horrified by Silver's tears. He grabbed Sneasel from Crys and ran at Scizor and Silver. Scizor reached its other claw at him, ready to grab. Gold threw Sneasel at Silver, and the Pokémon luckily seized whatever strength it retained and latched onto the tree with its claws.

Scizor turned to pull it away from the ropes, but Gold wrapped his arms around the claw and let his weight sink to the ground, dragging Scizor's arm down with him.

Tyranitar, not noticing the commotion, continued powering up its attack. Lance noticed what was happening, however, and shouted, "Wait, stop!"

"Don't stop!" the poacher counter-ordered before turning towards Gold. He punched the younger boy clean in the temple, making him see stars and his grip weaken considerably. But all he could think was that he had to stop Silver's crying, and somehow he held on.

While the Rocketeer started pounding on Gold's head, trying to make him let go, Crys shouted in alarm and sent out her Meganium. It growled and twisted vines around the enemy's arms, then lifted him up. The poacher sneered at Meganium and suddenly the green Pokémon yelped and dropped the Rocketeer, withdrawing scorched vines. The enemy landed on his feet and threw a strange black ball at Meganium. It was clearly a special, illegal type of Pokéball, because it absorbed Meganium in.

Crys screamed and ran over, then began to try to take the Pokéball from the man, who just hit her across the face. She spit out blood and resumed attacking him.

Meanwhile, Sneasel had cut Silver free, but the Scizor still had its claw around his neck. He tried to wrench the claw off his throat, but it didn't budge. It looked down at Gold and tried to shake its other claw free, but Gold was clinging on, nearly unconscious.

Pichu freed itself from the Pokéball and darted up Scizor. It stored up electrical charge quickly, then released it with a cry.

This had a good consequence and a bad consequence. Gold and Silver both wailed as pain shot through their bodies. Gold fell to the ground, completely unconscious, and although Silver remained standing, he was shaking. The Scizor groaned and released Silver, staggering back, then collapsing.

Pichu jumped down before the red Pokemon fell and ran to Gold. He nudged his trainer desperately and cried, "Pi! Pichupi!"

Silver touched Pichu lightly. "He'll be okay," he informed the Pokemon.

Tyranitar had canceled its attack. Before the poacher could continue harassing Crys, Lance leapt at him, and they rolled, trying to get a good grip on the other. They landed with the dragon master pinning the enemy down. Lance snarled, "I won't let you touch these trainers. You will not hurt them!"

The poacher grinned sadistically. "We'll see," he hissed. "I don't need to touch any of them to ruin their lives."

"What are you—?" Suddenly Lance yelled and tensed, a blade protruding from his back.

Silver and Crys looked over. Silver froze while Crys screamed. The poacher shoved Lance off of him and grinned. "Like that," he whispered, wiping blood off his face.

Silver shouted something that made no sense and drew a Pokéball.

"No!" Lance gasped. But it wouldn't have mattered; the Rocketeer just glanced at the redhead, then jumped into the trees. He retrieved his Scizor into its Pokéball and threw Tyranitar's on the ground, smashing it. He tossed one last smirk at Lance, then darted off into the trees.

Silver ran over to Lance, hearing Crys call the police; her voice sounded like it was underwater. He looked over the wound pulsating blood and he knew this was it. The stab was low enough to have hit his stomach. Lance covered it with his hands, wincing.

"Don't," the dragon master murmured. "It's fine."

"You can't die, though, you can't die," Silver hissed.

Lance laughed, then moaned as blood gushed from between his fingers around the hilt of the blade. He coughed and a trickle came from the corner of his mouth. "Thanks for watching over me after I pulled that stupid stunt with Lugia," he rasped. "It's okay. I know you love Gold, it's kind of obvious, and you never were one for subtlety."

Silver glanced over at Gold worriedly. Then he looked back at Lance and ran a finger over his blood-stained hand. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "You deserved someone better."

Lance smiled faintly, amused. "I didn't deserve anyone at all," he retorted. "I tried to kill all humankind. I would have killed even you in my blindness."

Silver met his gaze again. He heard sirens through the trees.

Lance reached up a hand and ruffled Silver's hair. "You'll be fine," he said. "Gold will make sure of that. But you have to watch out for Gold, too."

"Of course," Silver replied with such fervor that Lance knew he had never seen Silver truly in love.

"Such beautiful eyes…" Lance whispered. "Oh, well. I loved you, even if you didn't love me…"

Silver watched his eyes cloud over and replied, "I did love you. Just not quite the same." He leaned over and kissed Lance softly, then stepped back as police rushed onto the scene.

* * *

><p>There you have it, Lance is dead! I had to rewrite that scene three times, because the first time I wrote this part, I realized they were almost finished battling the poacher and Lance wasn't dead, and I needed him to die, so I threw in an epic-random-throwing-of-a-knife. Yeah, so this is much better.<p>

What shall happen to Silver and Gold now? Will they have a happy relationship, or will things be more complicated than ever? We shall see…

THIS IS IMPORTANT! Someone raised the question and I thought about it, and I'd like to hear what you guys think. Currently this story is about 6 or 7 chapters long. I can make it longer. Would you like it to be longer? Please answer, it affects how I write these next chapters.

R&R, and thanks again for reading!


	4. Wake Up

Sorry it's been so long. It's official, I'm going to try to update Thursdays and Sundays. And the last chapter was my last ready-made one, so sorry if I get behind! I'll do my best not to.

Anyway, onto the show!

* * *

><p>Two days later…<p>

Gold slowly blinked open his eyes. He gazed blearily up at the ceiling, then examined the people around him. There was Silver, who was shouting something, a doctor checking his vital signs, and Crys sitting in the background with her head in her hands. Gold coughed and rasped to Silver, "Why are you mad at me?"

"Because you almost left me!" he snapped irritably, trying to fight tears. "Do you realize that you have been in a coma for two days? That guy hit you so hard, you went into a COMA! What were you thinking?"

Gold reached up a hand to touch Silver's cheeks, but he couldn't reach and didn't have the strength to move. "Wanted you to stop crying," he murmured lazily.

Silver looked even angrier at that. "That's a stupid reason to try to get yourself killed!" he growled.

Then Crys came up behind him and gave Gold a relieved grin. "So you're okay," she murmured, giving Silver a moment to calm down. "We all thought you had…And with the pain that guy gave me just hitting me once, I couldn't imagine how it felt getting punched several times in a row."

Gold narrowed his eyes and considered it. "I can't remember what it felt like," he admitted. "Maybe that's a good thing."

Silver made a derogatory noise, but said nothing.

Gold frowned at him and said, "Speaking of which, where's the dragon master?"

Both of his friends froze up. Crys glanced at Silver, who looked at the floor. "Umm," Crys began, once it became clear Silver wasn't going to tell him. "He got…The Team Rocket guy stabbed him."

"Is he okay?" Gold asked in surprise.

Crys winced. "Well, it hit low. He's already dead."

Gold's eyes widened and locked on Silver, who was still looking at the floor. "Are you okay?" he asked Silver quietly.

Silver's eyes snapped back at up and Gold found himself drowning in silver depths. "Really?" he complained. "You're sitting here, waking up after two days of trying to die, with a minor concussion and lots of bandages, and all you can worry about is how I am?"

Gold heard the doctor interrupt. He told Silver and Crys a whole bunch of things that made no sense to Gold at the moment while he looked over Silver. When he finally left, Gold remarked, "You say all that, but I'm fine and you're very not."

Silver hooded his eyes and grumbled something. Then he finally just said, "He's dead, yes, but…I have you."

Gold felt that old melting feeling in his chest again. But this time it wasn't annoying. "You certainly do." He felt drained and tired, and he sat back against the pillows. He heard Crys murmur quietly, "You need rest, Gold. We'll come back later."

"No, you can go, but I'll stay," he heard Silver comment. "I'll be fine."

Gold muttered, "Wait, Crys. Your Meganium—"

A murderous look came into the girl's eyes, an expression he thought he'd never see on her. "He still has it," she replied quietly.

Gold frowned and nodded.

Crys left, and Gold fell asleep with Silver sitting beside him.

...

Gold sighed and adjusted the bandage on his head. "Silver, come on, already," he moaned dramatically. "I'm dying of boredom!"

"No, you're not! You're a lot quieter when you're dying," the redhead retorted, grabbing the little amount of stuff they had in the hospital room and lugging it along behind him. "And why can't you help with this?"

Gold rolled his eyes. "They're worried my delicate constitution will be upset if I try anything strenuous," he repeated, sounding annoyed. "I think they don't realize my skull's been knocked before."

"If you didn't crash that skateboard into everyone you meet, you wouldn't have," Silver answered, following Gold to the door. There, they checked out and began walking out. "We need to pick up Sneasel."

"Do we HAVE to?" Gold joked and got hit on the arm for it. "Ow!"

"Wuss," Silver grumbled, but he smiled slightly.

"I am not," Gold retorted when he noticed Silver was looking at the ground, like he was thinking about something. "What's up?"

"Um…Would you mind if I stayed at your house, at least for tonight?" he asked cautiously, not meeting his eyes. "I'm afraid to go home."

Gold wondered briefly whether this was because of memories of Lance, or fear of the vicious poacher. "Yeah, sure."

Silver gave him another rare smile. "Thanks."

"No problem. Now let's get Sneasel."

Sneasel was delighted to be reunited with Silver and kept teasing its blade-fingers through his hair and making little squealing noises. Gold realized while watching it that he had never seen it really happy. It was a lot like Silver in that it didn't like showing expressions. Once Nurse Joy gave Silver the spiel about not battling with it for a while, and feeding it only this and that, they nodded and left. On the way to Gold's house, Pichu and Sneasel kept up a running commentary on everything they passed until Silver got tired of it and groaned, "Would you two PLEASE stop squeaking?"

When they arrived at Gold's house, Gold marched right on in. His mom came flying out of the kitchen to give her son a hug that nearly squished the life out of him. "Ow! Stop, you're hurting me!"

"Thank goodness you're okay!" she exclaimed. "I came to see you several times, but I didn't know you were awake now!"

Silver looked embarrassed. "Ah, I'm sorry, I forgot to call you."

Gold's mom let go of the black-haired trainer and looked Silver over. Finally she nodded and said, "It's ok. I know you have a lot on your mind right now."

Silver tried to hide the fact that he felt depressed being reminded of that, but Gold saw it. He decided he needed to get him away from her. "Mom, is it okay if Silver stays for the night?"

"Of course," she replied amiably. "I'll be in the living room if you need anything."

Gold grabbed Silver's hand and began tugging him up the carpeted stairs. "Can you feed the Pokémon, please?"

"Yes, yes, lazy," she teased, heading back.

Gold dragged Silver up to his room. When he shut the door and turned back around, he found the redhead examining the place. "What do you think?" he asked curiously.

"Messy," Silver replied, nudging a pile of clothes with his foot. Gold obligingly scooped up the laundry and began to clean up some. Silver plopped down on the unmade bed and looked at the floor.

After Gold put the dirty clothes in the laundry room to deal with when he didn't have company, he let his Pokémon go outside, then went and sat down next to Silver. "How are you really?" he asked seriously.

Silver tucked his hair behind one ear. "Okay," he muttered. "I…feel guilty, though. If only I hadn't gotten caught, then—"

Gold covered Silver's mouth and said, "That's not true. Don't start."

"I can't believe he's dead," Silver whispered when Gold took his hand away. "He was there, and then he…wasn't." He looked up at Gold. "I was afraid that was going to happen to you, too."

"I feel bad for that Rocket guy," Gold joked, trying to lighten the atmosphere. "With you and Crys both pissed at him, there's no way he'll survive."

Silver didn't respond. He took off Gold's hat and turned it in his hands, looking at it. "I'm sorry," he murmured after a bit. "I shouldn't have gotten you mixed up in this."

Gold couldn't help it; he ruffled Silver's hair and remarked, "If you're involved, there's no way I can stay out of it." He leaned over, trying to catch the redhead's eye, but he was hiding behind his hair. "Hey, now, what's wrong?"

Silver suddenly lunged and hugged him tightly. He leaned up and kissed Gold almost desperately.

Gold pulled away. "No!" he said, almost angrily. "Not while you're thinking of Lance."

Silver looked up at him thoughtfully. Then he issued the challenge. "Make me forget him, then."

Gold cringed. But he couldn't help himself; he leaned forward and kissed Silver again, taking his hat back. They were exploring each other's mouths when Gold came to his senses and pulled away again. "No!" he growled. "Not like this." He dropped his hat, then trailed his hand down Silver's cheek and the redhead closed his eyes.

"Mmkay," Silver whispered.

Gold still felt like he needed to explain himself. "I don't want to be another Lance," he whispered. "I want you to know me as me."

Silver's eyes snapped open and he seized Gold's hand. "Never," he whispered. "You would never, ever be him."

Gold inwardly smiled a sad smile. _No, I guess I wouldn't._

Luckily, at that moment, Pichu decided to make an appearance. He freed himself and scrambled up onto Gold's lap and gave an innocent chirp.

Gold laughed as Silver leered at the small Pokémon. He pet the yellow head and said rashly, "At least I don't have to fight for YOUR affections."

Silver cringed and looked away. Gold felt bad, but he didn't want to take it back. He avoided looking at Silver as he tickled Pichu, who sparked with little, painless shocks, giggling, "Piiiipipipipi!"

There was a knock on the door.

"Gold? Silver?" his mom called.

Gold considered not answering, but Silver shouted, "Yes, ma'am?"

"Dinner is ready," she replied. Then she left.

Gold stood and stretched, Pichu jumping down from the bed. Silver looked up at him in annoyance. "You're a jerk, you know."

"Totally," he threw back, tone thick with sarcasm.

Silver crawled out of the bed and glared at Gold owlishly. "I don't know why you're holding all this against me," he grumbled. "It's not my fault I had a boyfriend and I'm still thinking about him only a couple days after he…"

Gold watched Silver's eyes sadden and felt irritated. You should never speak ill of the dead, but dead Lance was seriously ticking him off. "Let's go eat before you break down again," he mumbled, once more a bit harsher than he had intended.

Silver suddenly grabbed Gold's arm. He turned him around and started shouting at him. "Look, I'm sorry, ok? I don't want to be like this, but I just spent a year trying to focus on one guy, and now he's dead! I don't know what to think. Please stop being mad at me."

Gold searched those shiny eyes and finally murmured, "Ok. I'm sorry." He hugged Silver around his waist, and felt the other wrap his arms around Gold's neck.

Silver looked up at Gold and grumbled, "Your eyes are annoying."

"Annoying?" Gold blinked.

"They're so bright, I keep getting distracted, and I can't keep my thoughts straight." He pressed his forehead to Gold's. "Stupid golden eyes."

"Your silver eyes aren't much better," he retorted. "Ouch, can you not press so hard?"

Silver backed up and sat down on the bed again.

Gold examined Silver curiously. "You're so different now," he commented. "More open. It used to be you wouldn't be caught dead like that."

Silver made a face. "It's because of Lance. Don't get used to it."

Gold threw up his hands. "I give up. Let's go eat."

Silver gazed at him slyly for a moment. Then he stuck his tongue out at the other trainer.

Before the tongue could retreat, Gold snatched it with a devious grin.

Silver turned red instantly. He scowled at Gold, but didn't say anything for fear of how ridiculous he would sound.

Gold leaned closer. "That's not nice, Silv," he teased. "Maybe I should put soap in your mouth."

Silver looked panicky for a moment, then he scowled more. He attempted to give Gold a look that said 'don't you DARE.'

Ever pleasant Gold laughed and said, "I don't speak the language of eyes. Why don't you just say it?"

Silver struggled to find a way to say it without sounding hilarious. Finally, he just growled and tried to jerk his tongue back. It worked, to Gold's disappointment, and Silver sat for a minute trying to rewet his tongue with a funny look on his face. "That tasted gross."

Gold pressed a fingertip to Silver's nose and retorted, "I'll bet it didn't. To cover up the lovely taste of my still-injured hand, how about we go eat now?"

Silver grabbed Gold's hand and turned it over to examine his palm, which was decorated with faint scrape-marks, almost completely healed. "Still injured?" Silver repeated, tracing a line and making Gold shiver. "Looks fine to me."

Gold retrieved his hand. "Close enough," he retorted. "Dinner? Please?"

Silver finally meekly smiled and stood, following Gold down to the kitchen. There, they met overly friendly Pokémon, whom Gold shunted out into the backyard, and Gold's mom, who said, "Oh, good, I was about to go get you two. You might need to warm it up now."

"It's fine to me," Gold declared, sticking a finger in the food and licking it off. As he made a plate for himself, he asked, "What about you, Silver?"

The redhead shrugged, as per his mantra, and started ladling out food for himself.

As they ate, Gold's mom practically drilled Silver while Gold tried to hide his amusement behind his food.

"What's your favorite Pokémon?" she asked curiously. She was sitting with her hands clasped, meal already finished from earlier.

Silver somehow managed to answer and eat at the same time. But when Gold's mom asked the dreaded question—"Do you have a girlfriend?"—Silver blushed and froze.

Gold continued to watch, hiding a laugh behind a cough. This earned him a glare.

"No, ma'am," Silver finally replied. He considered throwing Gold under the bus, but he didn't want to get into another fight with the black-haired trainer.

"He's not social enough," Gold remarked, and Silver regretted being nice.

"You seem fine to me," Gold's mom hummed.

Just before she resumed her barrage, Gold decided to rescue Silver. "Mom, let him eat," he sighed. "He's not here for a questionnaire."

"Oh, right," she replied and went to find something to do.

"Sorry," Gold mumbled to Silver. "She's weird sometimes."

Silver shrugged. "She seems nice," he commented, toying with his beans.

"Yeah, she's okay," Gold assented. "I just wish she wasn't so nosy."

"She'll have plenty of reason to be, eventually," Silver answered nonchalantly, casting Gold a sideways glance.

The breeder hooded his eyes and said nothing. He didn't want to encourage Silver until he was sure Lance was clean out of the picture.

Silver took his silence as nervousness and went quiet.

After they finished eating, Gold gave Silver a determined look and asked, "What do you want to do now?"

Silver blinked at him. "Well, you're still injured and probably need rest. I can just preoccupy myself."

Gold gave a wicked snicker, making Silver blush again and snap, "You pervert." He shrugged and said, "If you say so. Are you staying the night?"

Silver considered it. "If you don't mind, yes," he finally answered. "Like I said, I can't go home for a while…"

Gold gazed softly as Silver until he realized it was making the redhead uncomfortable. "Oh, right, sorry," he said. "Um, sure." He yawned; Silver seemed to have reminded his body that it had been unconscious for a couple days.

While Silver borrowed an extra toothbrush and some of Gold's toothpaste, Gold sat on his bed and tried to think through what he was going to do the next day. But he couldn't get his brain to start working; it seemed to be getting foggier. Before he knew it, he was asleep.

* * *

><p>Sorry it's rather uneventful, it's kind of a bridge chapter. The next one should pick up again.<p>

You know the drill, R&R, and thanks for reading!


	5. The Escape

Sorry for the wait!

The first I thought when I noticed where I was going to have to end this chapter, I thought, /Ohhh, they're going to hate me hahaha!/ But maybe not. =3 It wasn't as bad as I thought.

Warnings: hinted originalshipping. There's also a random character in here, I needed the conversation boost, she won't be coming back.

My 18th birthday is this Sunday, so I might or might not update, depending on how my day goes. If I don't, I'll update Monday.

* * *

><p>Something was wrong. Gold knew it even before he saw his surroundings. He was back in the forest, but Crys wasn't there and neither was Sneasel. Silver was also tied to the tree again, but there was no Scizor.<p>

Then Gold realized someone was holding him up by the throat.

The instant he noticed that, he felt pressure and gagged, starting to struggle. He saw that the one holding him up was Lance. He looked furious.

"Leave him alone!" Silver shouted suddenly. "He didn't do anything to you!"

Lance's grip tightened. One thing Gold noted randomly was that he wasn't wearing his cape and his hair wasn't in its usual spikes. Then his attention was brought back when Lance spoke. "He made you love him," he replied to Silver, making a murderous face and exuding a terrifying aura. "That's bad enough."

Silver pulled at the ropes. "No, it's not! If you love me, leave him alone, Lance!"

But Lance just brought up his other hand. And in it was a knife, covered in blood, the same one that had killed him. Blood began to ooze from the side of his mouth and a gash appeared in his stomach. "I died because of YOU," the dragon master whispered to Gold.

The trainer coughed weakly; the pressure was beginning to choke off his air. "Not my fault," he gasped. The world narrowed in around just them, all else disappearing.

"No, Gold," Lance murmured, sliding the flat of the blade over the younger guy's cheek. "It was you. You could have helped me. But you hesitated."

"I was out cold!" Gold exclaimed desperately, struggling harder. _It hurts!_

"If you hadn't tried to help Silver, if you had helped me, I wouldn't be dead. And now all you're doing is replacing me. Silver will never forget me." He placed the point of the knife in front of Gold's stomach, at the same point where he had been hit. Gold glanced up to see Silver grinning eerily and waving at the black-haired trainer. Then Lance hissed, "Die, Gold!"

He felt a sharp pain in his stomach—

And woke up, gasping. He was shaking like a leaf in a storm. He felt around his throat and found that his blanket had somehow gotten up there and was choking him. He angrily pulled it off, but then he started crying. He shook his head furiously, trying to stop the tears, but the dream had knocked something in his control loose. Remembering the pain in his stomach, he felt it and found nothing. _Must have been a cramp or something,_ he thought and wiped at his eyes, trying to hold back more sobs.

Something on the floor rustled and Silver pulled himself up on the edge of the bed. "Are you okay?" he whispered.

Gold couldn't help it, with the dream still fresh in his mind; he jerked away from Silver with a choked cry, almost falling off, not wanting to make Lance angry.

Silver climbed up and held out his arms, placating. "Just a dream, Gold," he said. "It was just a dream."

Gold started sobbing then, and was appalled. _Why am I crying?_ he thought, wiping his eyes in frustration. _It was just a stupid nightmare._

But he knew why. He secretly did blame himself for not helping Lance, no matter what good, logical reasons he gave himself, and the replacement problem was bothering him almost daily now.

Then Silver surprised him. He crawled over and kissed Gold lightly, then hugged him. "Stop it," he mumbled. "You're scaring me."

Gold shuddered, and noticed his tears had eased. "Sorry," he gulped. "Really bad dream."

"Is that all?" Silver asked almost sarcastically, pulling back to look at him. "You never cry, and here you are, in tears because of a nightmare?"

"You don't cry, either," Gold muttered, looking up at Silver from under his eyelashes.

"I have more than I'm sure you have," Silver answered ruefully.

"Lance killed me," Gold whispered, unable to keep the dream from his mind. "You were there, and then you weren't…"

Silver kissed him again, but longer this time, cutting off his words.

Gold jerked away. "You smell like dragons," he accused.

Silver shrugged. "I had to decide what to do with Lance's Pokémon while you were…out," he explained. "Sorry."

Gold grunted, then gave a jaw-popping yawn. "Sorry I woke you up," he finally said. "Go back to sleep."

Silver got up and went back to whatever he lying on. Then he quietly whispered, "I don't mind you waking me up."

Gold thought about that for a while. He fell asleep wondering if Silver had meant because he had nightmares, too, or because he just loved Gold that much.

...

Gold was sitting at his desk again, eyes shut listening to the silence and thinking.

While his and Silver's relationship had more or less gotten better recently, Gold couldn't shut up the voice in his head that kept whispering, "You're just a replacement. Silver will never forget me." Not to mention, he felt he was just making Silver more depressed. _Every time he sees me, he thinks of Lance,_ he thought drowsily.

His phone rang.

Gold reached over and answered without checking the caller. "Hello?"

"Hey, Gold," the person said and Gold recognized Silver's voice. "I was wondering if you want to do something today."

Gold swore inwardly; today was the day he had been hoping to get away. "Umm, I can't, Silver, I'm sorry. My mom wants to hang out with me."

"Oh." His disappointment was obvious in his voice. "Ok. Well, talk to you later, I guess."

"Yeah," Gold replied.

"I love you."

_No you don't._ He hung up the phone without replying. He knew it would probably hurt Silver, but he couldn't make himself say it, not with his current plans. He closed his phone and set it on his desk; he couldn't bring it with him. Then he set about packing his bag. He had to be quick; his mom would be home in an hour.

As Gold trotted down the stairs, Pichu looked up from where he was guarding the team. "Pi."

Gold grabbed up the Pokéballs. "Ready?" he asked the yellow Pokémon.

Pichu scrambled up his arm and made a determined face. "Pich!"

"Good, cause I'm not," he sighed and the Pokémon gave a sympathetic murmur.

As they walked down the dirt road towards the dock where the boat to Kanto would soon be picking up passengers, Pichu kept trying to cheer him up, pretending to be blown over in the slightest breeze and giving little comments about the status of nearby Pokémon. When they reached the dock, Gold sat down on the wood and started playing with Pichu with one hand, mind on Silver. _I'm doing this for him,_ he told himself stubbornly. _I'll go ask Red where I can stay until I decide what to do_. A shadow fell over him, and he and Pichu looked up.

A teen stood above him. The girl moved and sat next to Gold, the sunlight revealing blonde hair and gray eyes. "Hi," she chirped.

Gold gave her a bored glance. "Hi," he replied quietly.

She blinked in confusion. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Fine, just doing something I don't want to…" he muttered.

The girl hummed, flicking water with her toe. "Then don't do it."

"I have to," he sighed. _Nosy,_ he grumbled silently. "If I don't, I'm afraid I'll keep hurting my friend."

She kicked her feet. "I don't know about the situation, but I doubt running away will help you friend feel better. He'll probably be scared for you, especially with Rocket running around."

"You know about that?" he asked as Pichu leaned over to stare into the sea.

"It was on the news," she replied with a shrug.

Gold glanced at her and saw the boat pulling up. He stood and then looked at the girl to ask her if she was going to Kanto, too.

But she was gone. Confused, he glanced around. He thought he saw a flash of pink in the trees, but he shrugged it off and boarded the boat.

...

Gold stood in front of Red's door, indecisive. He finally sighed, then knocked.

There was silence for a while, and then he saw someone coming up behind the warped glass of the window. Red swung open the door, then blinked in surprise. "Gold!" he exclaimed, shocked. "What're you doing here?"

"I wanted to come to Kanto," he said cheerfully. "Umm and I was wondering if there was somewhere I could stay for the time being."

Red ran a hand through his messy black hair. "Um, well, you can stay here tonight. And depending on how long you're staying, I'm sure the Pokémon Center could house you."

Gold nodded as Pichu gave a loud, startling cry.

A yellow Pokémon came streaking out of the house and touched Gold's leg. Chuchu the Pikachu looked up at her son and chirped.

Pichu smiled and darted down Gold, then followed Chuchu into the house.

Gold was horrified. "Oh, Yellow's here? I'll leave, then, I don't want to bother you two."

Red blew it off. "It's fine, we were just talking," he said. "Course, she didn't get me up too long ago…"

"She spent the night?" Gold asked as he followed Red indoors.

"Downstairs," the champion replied firmly, shutting the door. "Don't get weird ideas. So what're you doing here, for real?"

"Erm," Gold answered, trying to think. He didn't suppose 'I'm running away from my boyfriend because his ex just got killed and I don't want to remind him of that situation, plus I don't think he likes me the same way' would go down too well. "It's complicated."

Red snorted; apparently he was still half-asleep; normally such a reply would make the champion bring out the interrogator in himself. "Fun," he muttered instead. "Making breakfast. Want some?"

Gold looked at the clock in confusion. "It's lunch."

"I'm making breakfast for lunch," Red replied calmly. "Want some or not?"

Gold shrugged; he had made breakfast for lunch as well at one point. "Nah, I ate on the boat, but thanks."

A blonde came trotting into the room, putting her hair up in a ponytail. She saw Gold and blinked yellow eyes. "Gold?" she said in surprise. "Does that mean Pichu is here?"

Gold sighed. "Hi, Yellow. Yeah, Chuchu dragged him off a minute ago."

Yellow hummed then went looking for them.

Red pulled a bit of scrambled egg out of the pan and set it on the counter to cool so he could eat it in a minute. "She dropped by yesterday all of a sudden," he sighed "and Green was here."

"So?" Gold inquired, sitting at the table.

"Just that the two of them got talking, it got late, and she got stuck here. Green can walk home, of course, but you can't walk to Viridian in the dark. Too dangerous."

"Yup," Gold muttered.

Red ate the piece of scrambled egg. "You should go home."

Gold stiffened, offended. "You're kicking me out?" he asked carefully.

"No, no," Red clarified, waving his hands. "Stay if you like. But you're going to piss off Silver if you're over here, especially after that event with the Rocketeer."

Gold scowled. "How do YOU know about that?" he groaned, exasperated.

"I make it a habit to know what's happening to the other Pokédex holders," he explained. "I may not do much, but I try to keep that up."

"How is everyone?" Gold inquired curiously.

"Blue is flourishing," Red snorted. "Green is himself. You know about your region. And Emerald is travelling." He began putting food on a plate for himself.

Gold drew a line on the table with his finger. _I left him with the poacher_, he thought, worried. _But…surely that guy will leave Silver alone now. There's no Lance chasing him down._

Red sat down across from him. "You're gonna worry Silver," he commented.

"How do you know that?" Gold challenged.

"Because I know how I would feel if Green pulled a stunt like that," the champion grumbled.

Gold blinked. "Green?" _I suppose it's not too surprising if he likes Green._

But Red just gave him one of his blank looks. "Yeah. He's my best friend, like you are Silver's."

"Oh." Gold inwardly shook himself. _No knows about us besides Crys. I forgot._ "Yeah, I know, but I still can't go back."

Red shrugged. "Ok, whatever you like." He focused on eating.

Pichu came into the room and darted up Gold until he sat on his shoulder. Pika and Chuchu followed him.

Gold played with Pichu's ear. "We're gonna be here for a bit, buddy," he murmured.

* * *

><p>Chuchu is the worst name ever. I usually love Yellow, but Chuchu? Really? *headdesk*<p>

I know the dream scene was a bit awkward, but let's face it, dreams are awkward. I have felt pain in one of my dreams before, so that's why Gold did, too.

I have had breakfast for dinner before. It's good fun.

Also, no, Lance is not haunting him. Gold is just going insane. =D

Random fact: the OC was based, in description, on me. ^w^

I have to say, Phaedra, your last few comments put some things in check for me, so now I have notes for future bits of the story to explain things! Thanks X3

I have Silver POV at one point in the future now. *happy dance* It was fun.

R&R as always and thanks!


	6. Stupid Gold

Sorry it's so late, I got tangled up in Mass Effect 2 (Very fun, by the way) and Kingdom Hearts fandomness. I wrote a SoraxRiku one-shot that will be up here sooner or later.

* * *

><p>Gold groaned and opened his eyes. Pichu chirped in his face and he heard Yellow say, "Time to get up, Gold. Green's coming today, so Red said you can eat with us, but then you have to go."<p>

Gold sat bolt-upright and gave her an injured look. "Why?" he whined. "What did I ever do to Green?"

"Nothing," Yellow replied calmly, shrugging. "If it helps, I have to leave, too."

"They totally like each other," Gold muttered, shoving himself out of bed. He noticed Yellow's confused look and said, "What?"

"Oh, um, nothing," she answered hastily. "And...Pichu says to tell you that you shouldn't have run away from home, although he'll support you in your decisions."

He glared fiercely at the Pokemon, but the cheeky monster grinned disarmingly. "I hate you, electric monster," Gold grumbled.

"Why did you run away?" Yellow asked curiously. "You always seemed happy in Johto."

"I am," he whispered before he could stop himself. He shook his head. "Anyway, where's the nearest Pokémon Center?"

"Viridian," Yellow answered. "I could walk home with you."

He shivered inwardly; sometimes not knowing what your Pokémon was saying about you was a blessing. "No, thanks, Yellow." He stood and started getting ready.

Yellow gave him an innocent stare, then shrugged and left the room, greeting Chuchu at the door.

Gold thought wistfully of his bedroom where no one would ask him nosy questions and of Silver, who seemed to just know anything normal people would need to ask about. He pulled his jacket over his head and heard the door open.

"Hey, Gold, breakfast is ready," Red informed him. "Eat quick, Green is always stupidly early."

"'K," Gold replied, trying to civil despite his sleepy irritation. It was Red's house, after all. He pounded down the stairs in a hoodie, jeans, and sneakers, and saw Yellow feeding Pichu bits of bacon while Chuchu scolded Pika for something. Red was putting out two more plates.

Gold sat down in front of one of the plates, noting that Red's normally insane hair was well-hidden under his cap. "Thanks for the food, Red."

"Sure, it's least I can do since I'm sort of turning you out right afterward," the trainer replied amiably, sitting down as well.

There was a pleasant silence for a while as they ate. Then Pichu burped and fell off the table and they all laughed at him while he pushed himself up, muttering indignantly.

"Maybe bacon isn't good for you, Pichu," Yellow commented. She put her plate by the sink, then grabbed her straw hat. "Come on, Chuchu, time to go home."

Chuchu hugged Pika and Pichu and rubbed sparking cheeks with her son. Then she ran after Yellow, who waved, then shut the door.

Gold finished rather quickly, then put the plate on top of Yellow. "Thanks for your help, Red," Gold said as he collected his meager belongings and headed for the door.

"Anytime," Red replied, looking up from his food.

Pichu tapped tails with Pika and they waved at each other, then he raced over to Gold and climbed up to his shoulder again.

Gold shouted bye to Red at the door, whom answered in kind, and made his way to the Pokémon Center.

...

Gold was in the Pokémon Center lobby having a disagreement with the vending machine. As he kicked the prism, a Chansey trotted up to him and chirped.

Gold sighed. These were the moments he wished he could understand Pokémon like Yellow; maybe then he would know what the Chanseys wanted when they tried to call him. "Yes?"

"Chansey!" it declared and beckoned.

The trainer followed it to a video phone and saw Red's face. He picked up the receiver. "Red? What's up?"

"Silver's here," Red replied, looking concerned. He looked even more concerned when Gold's face contorted with shock. "You didn't know? Is he looking for you?"

Gold clutched at the phone. "Did you tell him where I am?" he asked desperately.

"Well, yeah, I thought it'd be okay!"

Gold paled. "Thanks for everything, Red. I'll talk to you later."

"Wait, Gold—!"

Gold hunged up the phone before the champion could keep talking, then went and start packing his stuff.

Pichu, snoozing on the bed, stirred as he bustled around and lifted his head and blinked sleepily. "Piiiiii?"

"Time to go, man," Gold told the little creature and closed his suitcase.

As the trainer exited the Pokémon Center, he readjusted his hat. But when he looked up, he froze.

Silver was walking towards him. The redhead had his hands in his pockets with Sneasel trotting beside him, looking determined. When Silver spotted Gold, his eyes narrowed and he picked up his pace.

Gold shuffled nervously, but he didn't try to move away as the other trainer approached him; there was no point, as he couldn't escape now and Silver would probably get angry and try to hurt him if he did.

Silver walked up until he was a few feet from Gold, then stopped.

There was a silence. Silver glared at Gold while Gold waited apprehensively for Silver to speak.

Finally, he did. "What the hell, Gold. What the hell."

Gold flinched. "You shouldn't be here," he commented weakly.

"Neither should you," the redhead retaliated angrily. Gold noticed he was shaking slightly. "Why in the name of Pokémon did you up and disappear?"

"Because I needed to get me away from you," Gold sighed, posture slackening as he spoke. He set down his suitcase. "I remind you of Lance, and I don't want to hurt you like that."

Silver kept his blank face, but Sneasel was glancing at him nervously, and the trainer's hands were still shaking. "Yes, but only because you two were always clashing in my thoughts."

Gold frowned. "How do you mean?"

"Dammit, Gold! I was okay with Lance dying! I thought we'd finally be together. But I felt bad for feeling that way, so every time I saw you, I felt guilty. But when you left…Why?"

"I left because I felt like I was just your new Lance, okay?" Gold finally snapped. He was feeling guilty and defensive.

Silver clenched his hands into fists. "How many times do I have to say that that wouldn't happen? Why don't you believe me? I've liked you for way longer than I liked Lance! It's more like Lance was _your _replacement!"

Gold froze, gears churning in his head. _I guess that makes sense,_ he thought. "But I just, I dunno, I don't want to hurt you."

Silver sneered. He ran up and, before Gold could try to stop him, he decked Gold in the face.

Gold's head snapped around, naturally, and he stared for a minute. He slowly turned and looked at Silver.

The other trainer was crying, frustrated, and that struck a discordant tone in Gold's heart. Then, just as suddenly as he had hit him, Silver seized Gold in a desperate hug and kissed him fiercely.

Gold froze. Then he slung his arms around Silver, Pichu jumping off his shoulder, and kissed him back. He twisted and licked Silver's lip. Silver obligingly opened his mouth and they locked tongue.

Before they could start getting anywhere near intense, Pichu gave a cry and electrocuted them both.

They jumped apart with a yelp. Silver shuddered and smoothed his hands over his hair, like he was afraid it was standing up, while Gold staggered, then turned to start scolding Pichu. However, Sneasel had taken that duty and was chasing Pichu, snarling angrily, while the mouse Pokémon ran away, giggling.

Silver grabbed Gold's hand and turned it over, running a finger over the palm. "Will you believe me when I say I fell in love with you?"

"Hmm, only if you tell me you fell desperately, violently, madly in love with me," Gold replied with a wicked grin.

Silver frowned. Then he smoothed a thumb over the place where he had punched the black-haired guy and sighed. "Fine." He recited, straight-faced, "I fell desperately, violently, madly, deeply, strongly in love with you."

"I like the strongly and deeply part," Gold whispered in Silver's ear, then kissed him lightly. "I'm sorry I pissed you off."

Silver looked at him out of the corner of his uncovered eye. "Maybe I'll forgive you."

Gold tickled him, and was delighted when the redhead laughed. They struggled for a bit, then settled for just hugging, forehead to forehead, appreciating being together at last.

Suddenly, Silver murmured, "Thank you for texting me."

"Texting you?" Gold repeated, surprised. "I didn't text you."

"It came from your phone," Silver retorted.

"Red and Crys…Devious little farts," he grumbled and Silver snorted in amusement.

They finally separated, still holding hands, and Gold said, "I give. Let's go home."

"You may have to save your Pichu first," Silver noted as the Pokémon darted by, Sneasel close behind.

Gold reached down and scooped up Pichu. He flicked him on the forehead and commented, "That's for shocking us."

Pichu just wrinkled his nose.

Silver grabbed's Gold's hand and they walked to the docks to catch a boat back home.

* * *

><p>Sorry it's short, I'll make the next one more descriptive. Next is Silver's POV of when Gold disappeared! Yay emotions! X3 Silver's more like me, he's actually pretty gosh darn emotional, he just hides it well.<p>

No Rocket poacher yet, although I know I accidentally hinted at it earlier. He will return...but not right now. Muahaha. He's gonna be fun~

R&R, thanks for reading. :) Will get the next chapter up ASAP since this one was late. Course, I haven't written that one yet, so it may be on time anyways…Well, whatever. I'll put it up on time, though, promise.

Oh, and check my front page if you want to see my future or ongoing fanfics. (some of which are not up yet, but will be as soon as I get the time to type up all those words.)


	7. Mine

I'll stop making promises, I have a habit of inadvertantly breaking them. ^^'

No, no originalshipping in this one, just implied in the last chapter. I'm writing a spinoff of this though that will be focused on Red and Green.

* * *

><p>Silver found himself staring at the wall of his house. He was bored, and he missed having someone to talk to all the time. Gold popped into his head like he always did. The redhead picked up his phone and called the other trainer.<p>

"Hello?" Gold said.

"Hey, Gold," Silver began. He suddenly felt nervous and hoped Gold wouldn't be annoyed. "I was wondering if you want to do something today." _Please say yes,_ he thought.

There was a moment of silence, then Gold replied, "Umm, I can't today, Silver, I'm sorry. My mom wants to hang out with me today." He sounded nervous.

Silver's stomach dropped. He bit back a sigh and said, "Oh, ok. Well, talk to you later, I guess." He hoped his voice wasn't as disappointed as he thought it sounded.

"Yeah," Gold replied. He sounded almost frustrated now.

Before he could stop his tongue, Silver found himself blurting out, "I love you."

Crap.

Apparently it threw Gold off just as bad, because he hung up. Silver groaned and set his phone on his counter as he passed it into the kitchen. He grabbed a bag of ramen out of the pantry and opened it. Crunching on dried noodles, a rarity for him, he thought over what had just happened. He wasn't too bothered by Gold's hanging up on him, but he was confused by the other trainer acting nervous. Why would he be nervous?

The next morning, Silver went about his day, training his Pokémon and being his usual reclusive self. But something was bothering him. _Why hasn't Gold called me?_ he wondered. _I don't want to be annoying and call him again, but I was expecting to hear from him more often._

While he was in the shower, his phone got a text. Drying his hair in a towel, he opened the message, noted it was from Gold, and read it.

Then he froze.

**Silver**, the message read. **I've gone to Kanto. I needed a little time away from everyone. Possibly for quite a while. Don't follow me. Gold.**

Silver did the natural, respectable thing. He cursed, threw on some clothes, grabbed his Pokémon, and sprinted out the door, calling Gold horrible names the whole time.

When Silver got to Pallet Town (via a very uncooperative boatman), he went searching for Gold. He headed for Red's house, since he figured Gold would go somewhere he felt welcome.

When Red came to the door, he looked tired and harassed. "Silver?" he muttered sleepily. "Funny, I saw Gold yesterday. You Johto people…" He yawned.

"You saw Gold?" Silver exclaimed. "Where? Where did he go?"

Red looked more awake suddenly. "Easy, easy," he said, holding out his hands. "Gold came and stayed here, because he needed somewhere to sleep. Then I sent him on to the Pokémon Center."

About to haul butt out of there, Silver paused and looked back at Red. "Why'd you send him on?" he asked curiously.

Red blinked. "Green was here." He looked fully awake now. "I think you would understand."

Silver hesitated, then he nodded. Next thing, he was darting off again. He got tired of running when he was almost to Viridian; he had gotten used to Murkrow flying him everywhere, and Sneasel had begun to complain about his jogging. So Silver put the dark Pokémon on the ground, and they continued on.

He and his Pokémon spent the night in the forest, sleeping in a tree. The next day, starving, Silver trotted into Viridian, looking for a place to eat.

Instead he found Gold.

He figured his shock was noticeable…maybe not. He had always been good at hiding his thoughts. In any case, Gold looked extremely nervous as Silver went up and stopped. He wanted distance, unsure of what he would do if he got any closer.

There was a bit of silence, then Silver felt he had to break it or he would explode. The eloquent piece that came out of his mouth was, "What the hell, Gold. What the hell."

_Good job, I probably just scared him,_ he thought as he watched Gold cringe.

The equally fascinating reply was, "You shouldn't be here."

"Neither should you!" Silver snapped, unable to hold his temper. "Why in the name of Pokémon did you come here?"

"I needed to get me away from you," he sighed, dropping his suitcase. "I remind you of Lance, and I don't want to hurt you like that."

_So you left me all alone?_ Silver wanted to scream, but he had control over his voice now, if not over his violently quivering hands. "Yes, but only because you two were always clashing in my thoughts," he explained, trying to stay toneless.

Gold frowned at him, sparking his irritation again. "How do you mean?" the insolent jerk asked.

"Dammit, Gold!" Silver burst out. He then said a speech he hadn't expected to hear from himself, mainly because he hadn't known he felt that way.

"I left because I felt like I was just your new Lance, ok?" Gold finally snapped. He was getting frustrated and defensive, Silver noticed, and the redhead felt angered; Gold had no right to act all self-righteous!

Silver clenched his hands into fists. "How many times do I have to say that that wouldn't happen? Why don't you believe me? I've liked you for way longer than I liked Lance! It's more like Lance was _your_ replacement!"

He saw Gold freeze and do the math. But then all he said was, "But I just, I dunno, I don't want to hurt you."

Silver felt something snap, and before he knew what was happening, he took those last few steps and punched Gold in the face.

He felt regret as soon as he realized what had happened, though, and watched in horror as Gold slowly turned to look at him in shock. He didn't notice that he was crying. Then instinct acted on his remorse, and suddenly he was kissing Gold.

_Damn, he's gonna be all upset now,_ Silver thought. But then Gold was hugging him and kissing him back, and everything was fine, and Silver felt that everything was going to be okay. They started making out, when Silver felt a sharp pain go through his whole body and he jerked away, stunned. He ran his hands over his hair, scared he might have some ridiculous afro from the shock.

Silver watched with a weird feeling of pride as Gold turned to yell at Pichu, and found Sneasel chasing the culprit around them.

They exchanged a bit more talk, but the thing that really penetrated Silver's thoughts was, "Let's go home."

He finally had Gold, well and truly.

* * *

><p>Just playing around with Silver's point of view, and being more free with sarcasm in the writing style.<p>

The action picks up again next chapter. You get no more hints than that!

Hopefully it will bring my interest back. I'm starting to lose my inspiration in this, what with the dozen other tantalizing ideas playing in my head.

This story is currently 24 pages long. *pats self on the back* But then again, it's really the interest shown by you guys that keeps me writing this, and knowing people are reading it, and wondering what's going to happen next.

Sorry if Silver gets a little OOC, I try my best, but his personality is really hard to grasp sometimes.

R&R thanks for your support. :3


	8. Things Get Complicated

Sorry for the wait. I'll have to go to once a week publishing, no telling what day, though. I'm typing them up on my laptop and so I only work on it when I get home now.

I keep forgetting I can cuss on here...or so I thought until I looked it over again and was like "wow I like to say shit. That's awkward." Sorry for the bits of foul language. ^^'

Have fun~

* * *

><p>"Leave me alone!"<p>

"Never!"

Gold watched Silver started running away from him and made a face. He took off after the redhead, shouting, "Silver, come back!"

"Get away, Gold, get away!" he replied urgently.

Gold tackled Silver, catching him around the ankles, and started tickling him.

Silver laughed, shoving Gold's hand away. "Get off me!" he insisted. "Stop it!"

Gold finally obeyed, grinning. "Why'd you run away? I caught you again anyhow."

"When someone tortures you, you usually run for it," Silver retorted.

Gold caught his hand and squeezed. "Well, my bad."

Silver smirked at him and slid his hand free. "Your bad indeed."

Gold gave him a puppy-dog face. "You're going to punish me for tickling you? Come onnnn, Silv, it was funny!"

"Not funny to me!" The smirk on Silver's face took the sting out of his words, however. He gave Gold a hand and helped pull him to his feet. "Anyhow, I need to go now."

Gold blinked in surprise, keeping ahold of the hand he had been given. "Go where?"

"For whatever reason, Crys wants to look at my Gyarados. I told her she could," Silver replied as he gave a whistle. Sneasel came trotting out of the woods a moment later.

"Maannnnnn I hate it when someone takes you away from me," Gold whined. He leaned in and kissed the other trainer.

Silver pulled away first and smirked again. "I'll be back soon, Gold. Don't worry."

Gold watched Silver trot off with his Pokémon, a neutral expression on his countenance.

"Piiiichu?"

Gold looked down at the yellow Pokémon, who had appeared at his side, looking concerned and voicing that query. "I'm alright. I'm worried sick, though. That damn poacher is still on the loose."

"Pii!" the Pokémon replied, looking determined.

"I don't want to try to track him down," Gold hummed, looking in the direction Silver had gone. "That's what got Lance killed."

"Pichupi." Pichu climbed up to his usual spot on Gold's shoulder.

"I am not stronger than Lance!" Gold laughed. "You have too much confidence in me."

Gold opened the door to his house a few minutes later, Pichu jumping off his perch as he clicked on the lights. "Mom?" he shouted. "I'm home."

"In the living room, Gold," she answered, and he heard his siblings squealing about something, and the family Pokémon gathered around to greet him.

Gold sighed. He was always happy to be around his family, but lately those quiet moments he spent with Silver seemed like a God-given blessing. He wandered around the kitchen, digging for food, but only found a temporary snack.

His mom popped around the corner, surprising him. "So, why are you home?" she inquired, crossing her arms.

Gold, holding a chip bag in his mouth while he dug in the refrigerator for a soda, gave her an inquiring quirk of the eyebrow.

"You're always out with Silver," she explained. "It's the first time you've been home in a while."

Gold shut the fridge. "Only because it's so noisy around here," he explained, setting the chips on the counter. "And I like spending time with Silver."

His mom gave him a searching look and he had a sudden premonition that she was beginning to catch on to his and Silver's secret—not that he wasn't going to tell her eventually. "If you say so," she finally replied. "So what's he up to that you can't cling to him like usual?"

Ignoring the jibe, he answered, "Hanging out with Crys today, apparently. I mean, I was with him a second ago, but then he told me he had to go."

"Sucks for you!" she teased and laughed when he made a face at her. "Well, you have other friends, too, you know. No need to neglect them."

"Right," he sighed, thinking of how he still needed to explain and apologize to Red. He had been putting it off.

Gold plopped down at the computer in his room, setting down his soda on a coaster and opening his chips. As he stuck one between his teeth, he pulled up his email and went through it; the trainers from other countries tried to use email rather than text, because the bills could get crazy. It turned out Red had sent him a fairly recent email.

_Gold,_

_While I appreciate the thank you, and don't mind helping you out when you need it, I would dearly love an explanation._

_Answer as soon as you can, please._

_~Red_

Gold scratched his head and opened a reply. "Might as well tell him," he muttered aloud. He started typing.

_Red,_

_Sorry about the mayhem. Truth is, Silver and I have sort of been pursuing each other for a while now, and things got complicated. Lance was his boyfriend, and when he got killed, I felt I needed to…get away from Silver. Yours was the first place I thought of. And then Silver tracked me down, somehow getting a text from my phone saying where I was. So I went back with him. Sorry, again, for all the trouble._

_~Gold_

He sighed and sat back, wondering what to do next. He was collecting together the necessities to play a video game—he hadn't played one in a while, what with Silver preoccupying his time—when Red replied.

He frowned at the screen and opened it, thinking, _He must have been on his email._

_Ahh, I can see why you were rather agitated at the time. Thank you for telling me, I won't pass this on to anyone. By the way, that was indeed very stupid of you to run away. And before you start pointing fingers, I had nothing to do with that text. I didn't even know you were there because of Silver. And Crys didn't either—she was talking to Yellow at the time, and she never said anything about you two fighting._

_~Red_

Gold froze. Crys didn't know? He knew Red hadn't known, because he had looked so surprised when he had called to tell Gold that Silver was in Kanto. But he had suspected Crys…

Who sent the text?

_I don't know who could have sent it, then. And since I told you my secret, I would like to know…do you like Green?_

_~Gold_

Gold was well into his video game by the time Red answered. What he got surprised him. Only four words.

_Be very careful, Gold._

The trainer frowned thoughtfully. Did Red mean to be careful of what he asked? Or be careful of whoever sent that text? He groaned, grinding the heels of his hands into his eyes. "So complicated!" he whined out loud.

Suddenly, his phone started ringing. As usual, he flipped it open and answered without looking. "Yo," he answered.

"Hello, Gold."

The trainer frowned; that voice sounded very eerily familiar, sending chills up his spine, but at the same time, he couldn't place it. "Who is this?"

"You forgot me already? Come now, Gold, for shame. I played such an important role in your petty little life, too."

Gold shuddered, but he still couldn't place that voice. "I don't recognize you. Answer me, or I'll hang up."

"I'm the Rocket poacher."

He accidentally said his thought out loud: "Oh, shit."

The poacher laughed. "Calm down, I haven't done anything yet. Just testing my resources, shall we say. Don't bother blocking this number, I won't call from it again."

"What do you want?" he snapped angrily.

"Pokémon," he answered cheerfully. "I'm not called a poacher for nothing."

"You have my friend's Meganium. Give it back," he growled.

"Oh, I do, don't I?" He genuinely sounded like he had forgotten. "You can have it back. Turns out it's not that valuable." His cheerful tone slid into a frustrated one. "I got in trouble for even bringing it back."

"Poor thing," Gold snapped.

The poacher laughed, all lazy again. "Thanks for your concern. Well, I say you can have it back, but if it provides a valuable hostage, then I may I hold on to it."

"Bastard, what do you want from us?" Gold shouted, clenching his hand into a fist. "You've already taken all our rare Pokémon!"

"Have not." He sounded almost ridiculously happy when he spoke next. "That lovely friend of yours has a nice red Gyarados…and he still owes me."

Gold frowned. "What do you mean, he owes you?"

"Talk to you later, Gold."

"NO—!"

But the guy had hung up. The trainer closed the lid on his phone and slammed it into the desk, grinding his teeth in a fury. Then he cooled down a little and opened it back up; luckily it hadn't broken, the screen just had a tiny crack in the corner now. He dialed Silver's number.

"Gold?" he heard Silver say in surprise. "Why are you calling me? Missed me already?"

"Has anyone contacted you?" Gold asked urgently. "Anyone besides me or Crys."

"No, of course not," he answered, still sounding surprised. "Gold, what's wrong?"

"Silver…the poacher called me."

There was dead silence at the other end. Then he faintly heard Silver telling someone, "Hold on, this is really important." When he came back, all he said was, "You still there?"

"Silver, what do you owe him for?" Gold inquired.

He heard Silver hiss as he sucked in breath through his teeth. "He told you I owe him?" he whispered, then suddenly added, "Well, I don't! I don't owe him anything!"

"Don't lie to me!" Gold shouted. "What do you owe that bastard?"

"Don't yell at me!" Silver snapped back. "You're not my dad!"

There was another awkward silence. Silver realized how horrible that must have sounded and started to apologize.

"No, no, stop," Gold said hoarsely. He felt hollow. "It's fine. I'm sorry I yelled. But really, Silv, why would he say that you owe him?"

"I don't know," Silver answered, but it was in that voice with just a bare hint of monotone that Gold had come to realize he used when he was lying. "I don't owe him."

Gold felt as if he was losing his voice, but he managed to whisper, "You don't have to lie to me, Silver. I love you."

Silver hung up, probably for the first time since Gold had met him. While he wouldn't have been too surprised normally—he was more shocked that Silver never did hang up on him—at the moment, it hurt like fire.

Gold set down his phone and covered his eyes with hands. _Shit. What do I do now?_ He considered calling Crystal, but she was with Silver, so she probably already knew. Maybe she was questioning Silver just as closely. He sighed and sat down on the floor.

Who could he turn to?

He didn't know.

Gold groaned in frustration, running his hands through his hair. He heard a scratching noise at the door and an insistent, "Pichu! Piiiiiichu!" So he got up and opened it.

Pichu trotted in and looked up at him with a frown. "Chu?"

"He's back, man," Gold murmured, shutting the door. "What do I do?"

"Chuchu."

"Wait?" Gold squeaked. "That'll give him the advantage."

Pichu scrunched up its nose. "Pichupi."

"You're no help," Gold grumbled and opened his email again. He tapped in a reply to Red.

_Good timing. The poacher's back. He's already got me tied up in his stinking web._

He also sent one to Green explaining what had happened, hoping for a little advice.

Red wasn't much more help than Pichu. _Well, crap. You'll just have to battle him and win at some point._

Gold sighed and replied, _It's not that simple. This guy doesn't fight fair._

_Then beat him at his own game._

Gold didn't know how to do that. He was a bit more hopeful when Green replied.

_Just keep an eye on Silver, train hard, watch your rare Pokémon, and wait. That's really all you can do. If you need a little reassurance, I can send one of my Pokémon over there._

Gold shivered; he couldn't imagine trying to control one of Green's Pokémon. He would feel outclassed by the creature. Even as a guard rather than a weapon, it would be more of a fright than help. _No, but thanks. I'll call you if anything comes up._

Ironically, his next reply was identical to Red's.

_Be very careful, Gold._

Gold threw up his hands. It was like he spent all day walking into walls or something. He knew to be careful! He had already run into this guy once, and it still gave him nightmares. He wouldn't forget the Rocketeer in a hurry.

Next, he called up Silver again. The other trainer sounded a little peeved, but he still answered. "Yeah, Gold?"

"Umm, not including today, can we keep real close together please? It's not so much you owing him anything, it's the fact that he used you as bait last time and it makes me nervous."

Silver sounded cold. "An oversight on my part, I promise. It won't happen again."

"Please, Silver!" Gold begged desperately. "I don't want you to be in danger again."

There was a period of heavy silence, then…"Fine."

"Thank you," Gold breathed.

"Do you want to start stalking me today?" he asked, still sounding insulted.

"No, tomor—Silver! Come on, grow up a little." He frowned; what had gotten into that trainer? Usually he was perfectly chill with anything that appealed to logic. "What's the matter with you?"

"I hate that I messed up once and suddenly everyone is scared for my life," the redhead grumbled.

"Your 'oversight' got Lance killed!" Gold blurted out before he could stop himself. He was instantly contrite. "I didn't mean that. I'm so sorry."

Silver sighed. "Just leave me be for a while, Gold. I need some…recuperating time."

"Are you still at Crys's?" he asked curiously.

"No. I just got home." There was a loud beeping noise. "I have to go. Bye, Gold."

"B—" Silver closed the connection before he could say it. Gold frowned and shut his phone, intensely concerned. Too many things were lining up in ways he didn't like. Silver was acting funny, Silver lied, the poacher said Silver owed him, someone sent a text to Silver telling him where Gold was…

_That couldn't be it, could it?_ Gold wondered absently as he doodled on a piece of paper.

Gold dropped his pencil and rubbed his eyes. This was getting ludicrous.

* * *

><p>It stops rather suddenly because it started getting ridiculously long. It's seven pages long, double-spaced. O.O<p>

Poacher's back~ I love evil characters. They're my forte.

Silver is keeping secrets...Wonder what they could be? And come to think of it, why would the Poacher call Gold? X3 Food for your confusion, muahaha!

Looks like this story is aiming to be about...ten or eleven chapters. I don't want to make it crazy long, otherwise no new people would want to read it!

R&R thanks for reading :D


	9. Broken Promise

Sorry for the wait.

The little blurb at the beginning is sort of...Gold's thoughts.

* * *

><p><em>It's all too much…It's way too confusing…driving me crazy, making me want to scream at you…<em>

_Why don't you trust me?_

_You told me that I wasn't a replacement, that I was more important than Lance, you acted so happy, you seemed like you truly loved me…_

_Where are you now? You broke your promise._

_Damn it, Silver, please…_

_You're killing me._

Gold sat across from Silver in the restaurant, the straw of his drink in his mouth, but he was more or less just chewing on it thoughtfully.

Silver cast him a glance, but didn't say anything. The redhead's worry was almost palpable. Finally, he blurted out, "Gold, are you okay?"

Gold traced the bags under one eye unconsciously. Silver flinched, so he stopped. "I'm fine," he lied. "Just…thinking."

Silver made a face. "Right. Gold, you look like hell. Stop worrying about me so much, you're stressing yourself out. And would you please actually drink that? I didn't buy that for the straw."

Gold twitched and looked down at the cup as if surprised to see it there. He obligingly drank out of it, then informed Silver, "I wouldn't stress out so much if you would just trust me."

Silver glowered. "This again?" he grumbled. "I do trust you—"

"Way more than everyone else, yeah yeah," Gold interrupted, too tired to care. He regretted it when Silver looked hurt, but it was too late to take it back. "But you don't trust anyone else at all. I need to know, Silver!"

"It's none of your damn business, Gold!" Silver suddenly shouted, thumping his fist down on the table. The restaurant went quiet, and he glanced around nervously at his new audience, then cowered back into his chair.

Gold sighed and scooped up his drink before pulling Silver out of the chair lightly. "Come on," he murmured to his boyfriend. "We'll talk where there are less people."

Silver stood and followed him, albeit grudgingly. Outside, he grabbed Gold's hand and clung to it.

Gold took a drink and didn't say anything. But he applied the barest hint of extra pressure between their hands that said he appreciated it.

Silver muttered, "Why are you so desperate to know if I owe that Rocket anything?" He studied the ground as they walked.

Gold hummed. "It worries me that he holds something over you," he answered levelly. "And that you don't trust me with that information."

Silver squeezed Gold's hand. "It's not that I don't trust you…" he confided. "The information you want is…not to be taken lightly.

Gold chuckled and they were both horrified by how tired he sounded. "I don't take anything about you lightly, Silv," he explained.

Silver pulled them to a stop and made Gold face him. He traced the bags under Gold's eyes and noted how his normally metallic irises had turned a weird, dark yellow color. "You seriously need sleep," he told the black-haired trainer.

Gold's eyes hooded. "Sorry," he murmured.

Silver kissed him lightly, and Gold was annoyed that he couldn't bring himself to respond, he was so out of it. They continued walking, but the wall between them was back, the one that would pop up every now and then ever since that one conversation.

"He's going to come after you sometime, you know," Gold muttered. Suddenly, the redhead gave a frustrated groan and started running in the direction of the nearest house of theirs, which happened to be Silver's, dragging Gold along behind him. Gold yelped as he tripped on something, stumbling.

"Silver, where are we going?" he asked in confusion.

Silver didn't answer.

Gold was quite startled when he saw Silver's house approaching. They entered and Silver slowed down so he wouldn't knock anything over, but he continued pulling Gold along. He took him upstairs and around a corner, then opened the door to a room.

Gold blinked in surprise when Sneasel picked up its head and chirped questioningly. He also noted the various bits of Pokémon junk, mainly a couple of Pokéballs and a picture of Silver and Totodile, before suddenly he was being shoved down on the bed and the soda wrested from his grip.

"Silver, what are you doing?" he shouted, blushing furiously, as the redhead lay down beside him, determination burning in his shiny eyes.

"Go to sleep," Silver ordered him. "I promise I'll stay here, so just sleep."

Gold blinked in surprise. He worked through Silver's ctions in his head, and then relaxed. They exchanged gazes for a time, neither giving way, but then Gold asked, "You'll stay here? Absolutely?"

Silver looked a tad amused. "I'll stay here even if I have to go to the bathroom," he joked lightly. "If you want me to trust you, you have to trust me."

Gold smiled weakly and sighed. Then he closed his eyes, feeling surprisingly peaceful with Silver lying beside him. He finally gave into the tiredness that had been plaguing him, and slept.

...

When Gold awoke, he was startled. _This isn't my room,_ he thought, glancing around warily.

Then he noticed the bluish-black fur of Sneasel sleeping nearby and he relaxed, remembering that this was Silver's room. That thought processed and he sat bolt upright, looking around.

No Silver.

_He wouldn't_, Gold thought. He stood and opened the door. "Silver?" he shouted. _Maybe he went to the bathroom…_ He went looking through the whole house, but couldn't find him. He was beginning to worry now. "Silver!" he shouted urgently. He went back into Silver's room and noticed Sneasel still sleeping. It calmed him until a thought made his nerves freeze.

Sneasel was still sleeping.

Gold had jolted the bed when he sat up and got out of it, been running around the house shouting his head off, and Sneasel hadn't even moved.

The trainer went over and shook Sneasel lightly, murmuring the Pokémon's name. It simply curled up into a tighter ball and sighed through its nose.

Gold felt panic begin to settle into the pit of his stomach. Silver was gone when he promised not to leave at all, and Sneasel wasn't waking up. _I shouldn't have gone to sleep,_ he thought angrily.

His phone buzzed.

Gold snatched it out of his pocket and answered without checking the ID. "Hello?"

"Hello, Goldy." The voice of the poacher sent a chill down his spine as usual. "Looking for your boy toy?"

"My—?" Gold squawked, enraged. "How dare you!"

The Poacher chuckled. "Calm down, kid," he said. "He's fine, at the moment. Unfortunately, he left his oh-so pretty Gyarados somewhere. Find it."

"Or what?" Gold snapped coldly, trying to bluff the enemy out.

There was an icy silence, then suddenly he heard Silver screaming.

"Stop!" Gold shouted into the phone, gripping it harshly. "I'll do it, just stop!"

"GOLD!" he heard Silver cry.

"STOP IT!" Gold nearly screamed.

There was a rustling sound and the poacher said, "Ouch, I think you busted my eardrum! Find that Gyarados. We'll waiting on Route 29. Oh, and you might want to hurry and get here before I get bored. Bye-bye, Goldy~!" He hung up.

Gold slowly shut his phone, thinking. He remembered Silver saying he had gone to Crys's house to show her his Gyarados.

When he arrived at Crystal's house, she looked thoroughly startled.

"Where's Silver's Gyarados?" he asked her.

Crys held up a Pokéball, like she had been moving it somewhere. "Here," she replied. "But, Gold, what's going—?"

"Later, no time," he quipped, snatching the Pokéball and running off. He raced along the route, wondering how he was going to find them. He stopped and slowed his breathing, trying to calm himself. _A tracker,_ he thought to himself. He pulled out Typhlosion. "Find the poacher," he told it.

The Pokémon looked surprised, but it started sniffing around for a trail. When it found one, its fire mane ignited and it growled, then started bounding into the forest.

Gold kept close on its trail. He was getting confused when suddenly Typhlosion spun around with a snarl. At the same time, something dropped down from behind the trainer and wrapped an arm around him, the other arm pressing something cold to his neck.

"What the hell," Gold whispered, in shock. Typhlosion growled and glared at the person behind him.

"Sorry, Goldy," the poacher said in his ear. "You're a little easy to fool."

"What do you mean?" he asked warily. He felt the Rocket reach down and pull Gyarados's Pokéball off of his belt.

"Well, for one, you're not the target, you're the bait." Gold felt a shiver shoot up his spine. Then the poacher shrugged. "Well, I guess that's only half true. You are a part of it."

"What are you yammering about?" he snapped and started to struggle until the point of the dagger against his neck broke skin, making him wince and go still.

"So stupid," the poacher grumbled, voice suddenly icy cold. "I told you Silver owed me."

"Owed you what? And for what?" Gold snapped, exasperated.

"I gave him life!" he hissed in Gold's ear, making him stiffen. "I was going to kill him, or maybe hand him over to Team Rocket, but he begged me not to. Said he'd owe me one. I told him what I wanted. At first, he refused. But when this little beauty here—" he twisted the dagger, making Gold cry out as it cut him further "—was about to end his existence, he agreed to it."

"What was your demand?" Gold asked, a little curious, and very scared.

He felt the man smile. "He owes me YOU," he whispered.

Gold felt something inside him suddenly went missing. He must have made a weird face, because Typhlosion whined, looking worried.

"He's not even here, is he?" Gold murmured, but he already knew the answer.

"No, poor Goldy's all alone," the Rocket snickered. "I played for you a recording of when I was about to kill him. I didn't exactly make it…painless."

Rage burned through Gold's veins, but he forced himself to think. "How?" he inquired. "I mean, how did you play it?"

The poacher tossed a Pokéball and Gold saw a Xatu appear, shaking its feathers out.

"Ah," Gold murmured. "Is that how you killed Lance while he had you completely pinned down, also?"

"Very good. Yes, psychic is so much more useful when no one knows the user is there." He shifted his grip on Gold's stomach, and the trainer felt very uncomfortable. "So. Bet you're wondering what I'm going to do with you."

"Wondering about you name, too, actually," Gold informed him, trying to keep his tone at ease "and why you texted Silver my whereabouts."

The poacher laughed. "My name isn't important, but if you're so interested, it's Zack," he said. "And I told Silver where you were, because I need you as leverage."

"Leverage?" Gold repeated, startled.

"Mmhm." The Rocketeer set his chin down on Gold's head, making the trainer want to squirm. "Turns out the new Rocket boss would like a…word with Silver. I've been ordered to bring him back."

"Oh," Gold mumbled, getting the leverage talk. "But…then what are you going to do with me after you have Silver? There must have been a reason to request me as payment."

Zack's chuckle made fear quench the fury inside of him. "I'll let you guess," he murmured, nuzzling Gold's ear. "In the meantime…"

Suddenly Xatu was right in front of Gold, and the trainer hissed and tried to look away, but the poacher held his head still. The Pokémon's eyes swirled and he faintly heard Typhlosion bellow in anger. He also dimly felt Zack pull Typhlosion's Pokéball off of his belt and return the Pokémon. But then all his senses were drowning in a strange humming, and he didn't remember closing his eyes, only a hypnotizing red color.

* * *

><p>Yay, lots of explaining.<p>

I love evil characters. So much fun.

I would like to know if I was dreadfully predictable or not, haha. ^^'

Also, just telling you now, it's not going to get more graphic, just in case you're worried. The dark themes are sort of on accident, but...yeah. If I say anything else, I'll start giving stuff away.

Let's see where we go from here...

I realize the promise wasn't actually such a big deal...and yet in a way it was, because the fact that Silver was gone meant that this whole situation ensued. Fun situations X3

Read and review :3 They make me happy~


	10. Hypnosis Sucks

You'll love the beginning...and hate the cliffhanger. :3

Enjoy~

* * *

><p>"—ck you!"<p>

"Now now, that's not very polite talk."

Gold groaned and stirred. His head felt heavy and he still felt tired. It had been so nice, sleeping blissfully. But Silver had woken him up, shouting at someone. He blinked blurry eyes and yawned, thinking, _Can't they at least keep it down?_ Then the rush of confusing emotions left from when he had been knocked out came back and he gasped, jolting against something. He found himself tied to a tree, like how he had found Silver. But unlike then, these were vines, not ropes, and there was no Scizor at his throat. He felt dried blood on his neck from where the poacher had cut him.

"Ah, thank you, Xatu," he heard the poacher say and noticed the psychic Pokémon sitting in front of him, staring. It fluttered its feathers and moved away. "Gold, would you like to speak to Silver?"

Gold took in his surroundings. It was the same stinking clearing where Lance had died! Trying to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach, he noted how panicked and relieved Silver looked simultaneously, and how smug the poacher was.

Suddenly he was saying, "Why'd you trade me like that?" He felt like coughing, it felt so weird; he hadn't made his body say that! What was going on?

Silver looked so sad. "I didn't mean to," he murmured. "I figured…Very selfishly, I know, I figured you'd be okay with it because otherwise I would be dead."

_I am_, Gold tried to say, but instead he replied, "I'm not. Why would you do that?" He felt his head jerk in the direction of the poacher, in an indicatory movement. "Why don't I just join Zack here?"

"Zack?" Silver choked out, glancing at the poacher. "Is that…Is that really what you want, Gold?"

_NO!_ But his mouth betrayed him again. "Yes." Feeling very lost, Gold examined Silver's eyes desperately. Then he narrowed his gaze.

The normally silver and white orbs were tinted red.

After that, he noticed the whole world was shaded red very faintly. A pulsating, hypnotic red.

_I'm still being controlled by Xatu!_ he exclaimed silently, delighted by his epiphany. Then his excitement drained. _How do I stop it? How do I show him I'm lying?_

Silver sighed. He had apparently been thinking while Gold struggled. "Ok," he murmured. "I'll let you go. Give back my friend's Meganium, poacher Zack. I'll leave."

The poacher cracked a wicked grin. "Oh, no, Silver," he cackled. "You're BOTH coming with me."

Silver frowned. "What're you talking about?" he snapped.

"Team Rocket's new head honcho requires your presence," the man snickered.

The redhead looked appalled. Gold panicked and thought of a solution to his muteness. He bit his tongue, hard, then cried out in pain and started coughing as blood spurted out.

"Gold!" Silver shouted urgently. He took a step forward, then the poacher was suddenly over by Gold, a nasty look on his face, holding his knife to Gold's throat again. Silver swore violently.

"Piss on you," Gold informed the poacher hoarsely.

Zack laughed. "And to you too, for breaking Xatu's spell," he said with an eerie grin.

Silver grabbed a Pokéball, but stopped when Gold yelped, blood beginning to trickle down his neck from the new cut.

"Damn you, stop that!" Gold growled.

Zack laughed, more nervously this time, but he was watching Silver. "Don't touch one Pokémon," he said.

Gold met Silver's eyes. _Don't worry,_ he tried to tell his boyfriend. _I'll be fine. Do it._

The worry in Silver's eyes said he had understood. _I can't let you be hurt,_ they said. _Not after what I've done_.

_I won't die_, Gold replied silently. _He wants me, for some freaky reason. Just do it._ He noticed Silver still looked hesitant, so he decided to give the redhead a push. He ignored the blade pressing further into his wound and leaned over, burying his teeth in the poacher's wrist.

"Shit!" the enemy swore, pushing Gold's head back into the tree trunk with his free hand, escaping the bite. He turned to Gold completely and pressed the blade deep into Gold's neck, making him hiss in pain as his blood began to run faster. "I'll make you pay for that!" the man snapped angrily.

Suddenly, the guy was gone. Silver had sent out Feraligatr and the Pokémon had grabbed the Rocketeer from behind and yanked him away.

Xatu came out of its hiding place in the trees and landed in front of the gator Pokémon, opening its wings and mouth as it sought to transfix the other.

Gold felt a shift and looked down, wincing as it put pressure on his battered throat.

Sneasel glanced up at him as it silently took the vines between its claws and sliced through them easily. Gold fell to his knees as he was freed and put a hand to his neck, shuddering at the slick feeling of his own life fluid. He tore some of his sleeve off and had Sneasel cool it, then wrapped it around his neck and tied it, cringing.

Silver suddenly shouted, bringing his attention back to the battle. The poacher was free and facing the redhead. Feraligatr was sitting, dazed from Xatu's hypnosis.

Xatu hissed at the Murkrow flying around, which was cackling at the Xatu's helplessness as it pecked at the Pokémon every so often.

Gold staggered to his feet, Sneasel chirping at him worriedly. He felt at his belt and growled in frustration when he found all of his Pokéballs missing. "Sneasel, go find my Pokémon," he ordered Silver's partner.

The dark-type nodded and darted off.

Gold ran at Zack from behind and jumped on him.

The poacher grunted, stumbling forward, then started trying to pull Gold off. He even pulled out his knife again and slashed at Gold's hands.

The trainer clung on desperately until the knife came too close to his face. He jumped free, clutching his bleeding hand, and backed away hurriedly.

Feraligatr had recovered by now and grabbed the poacher from behind again. The Rocketeer cried out in frustration. He pulled out a Pokéball and was about to send it, but Silver jumped up and snatched it away. Zack cursed and grabbed for another one.

Gold by now had his phone out and was calling the police, grimacing as he wiped blood off the screen from his hands.

"Hello, this is emergency services. What's the problem?"

"Hi, we're being attack in the forest," Gold blurted out. He almost continued rambling, but the operator interrupted him.

"Where are you?" she asked.

"In a forest off of Route 29 near New Bark Town," Gold answered urgently. "Not very far in."

"Alright, there are officers on the way," she replied. "What's the situation?"

"Umm, I have no Pokémon, my boyfriend's Pokémon has the guy held up, but it won't last long now, and it's the Rocket poacher," Gold rattled off.

"Ok, please hold," she said and went away.

Gold wanted to scream at her that he couldn't hold, he was running out of time! The poacher squirmed free of Feraligatr and backed away until he was almost in the trees, one eye closed because the Pokémon had slashed his face. He pointed at the gator and ordered, "Xatu, hypnosis!"

As the battle got heated, the operator returned. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Gold!" he shouted. "Gold of New Bark Town."

"Gold, please stay on the line with me," she said calmly.

"I can't, I need to help Silver," Gold growled, unconsciously closing his free hand into a fist, making his wounds sting. He felt warm liquid seeping down his neck and put a hand to his wound. "I'm injured quite badly, too."

"You can't help him without Pokémon, and especially if you're injured," she answered. "Just hang in there, police will arrive soon."

Gold felt something tug on his pant leg and looked down.

Sneasel chittered at him, surrounded by Gold's Pokémon.

Gold grinned at them. "Hey, guys. Typhlosion, go scorch that Xatu!"

As he obeyed, the operator queried, "Typhlosion?"

"My friend's Pokémon brought mine," he explained, feeling a lot less helpless. "So, thanks, bye!"

"Wait-!" she shouted, but he closed the phone. _Sorry, ma'am, I need to focus._ Gold looked over at his other Pokémon: Pichu, Politoed, Mantine, Aipom, and Togekiss.

He sighed and said, "Sneasel, go guard Silver. Pichu, watch my back. Politoed, go give Feraligatr some backup. Mantine, go circle above the trees. Togekiss, stay here and heal the injured."

As they went to comply, Xatu let out a piercing screech of pain and frustration, wing burned by Typhlosion. The fire Pokémon was about to crisp the psychic Pokémon, but Gold shouted, "Don't kill it!"

Typhlosion cut off the flame it had been building up and instead breathed out a screen of smoke onto Xatu, making it confused and dizzy.

The poacher had sent out his other Pokémon. Two of them were Meganium and the red Gyarados. They had a glowing black chain around their necks, and their eyes faintly glowed the same color. His other Pokémon were a Houndoom, a Dragonite with the same black chain, and a familiar Scizor.

Gold didn't want to hurt the captive Pokémon, but the moment the Dragonite came flying at him, instinct and practice won out, and he shouted, "Pichu, Thunder!"

Pichu ran forward and charged up, sparks flying from its cheeks, then ran under Dragonite and acted as a lightning rod, attracting the electricity down from the sky.

Dragonite snarled as it got hit by Thunder, but it was tough, and it circled around to fly at Pichu again, teeth bared.

Suddenly, it pulled up and looked over its shoulder at the poacher, whining in confusion.

Gold looked over also and saw that Silver and Zack were fighting over a black Pokéball.

A poaching ball.

Sneasel scrambled up Silver's body and onto his arm then raised its blade. The poacher shouted, "No!" right as the point came down.

The Pokéball shattered. The Dragonite bellowed in pain as the black chain on it constricted, then disintegrated. The Pokémon shook off then bared its teeth at the Scizor and went for it in a fury.

The poacher shouted angrily and lunged for Sneasel. The Pokémon slashed at his face as Silver lurched backwards to get away.

Gold let out a yelp of pain as Meganium, who he had forgotten about, sent a storm of razor-edged leaves at Gold and Pichu. He fell down onto the grass to avoid the leaves. Pichu ran towards Meganiu, and hit it with a Thunderbolt.

Gold stood and shouted, "Pichu, keep it busy!" Then he turned and ran towards the poacher. He didn't see the trainer coming, so Gold just looked over his belt from a safe distance, then snatched away the two other poaching balls he could see.

The poacher snarled and turned on Gold, an almost feral look on his face.

Startled, Gold stumbled backwards, away from the threat, and tripped. The poacher bore down on him and he closed his eyes.

* * *

><p>LOTS of action prose...Feel free to critique the hell out of it, I probably need it. I tried to avoid overload on it, because I know I personally get tired when the action scenes in writing are ridiculously long, but...it was kind of called for here. Sorry if there are little mistakes, I'm kind of in a rush at the moment.<p>

The action got long enough that now the story looks to be about 12 or 13 chapters instead of 11.

Plllleeeeeaaaaaase check out my other stories, some of which I'm putting up tonight. One is Originalshipping one-shot. =3 Just sayin'~

Thanks for reading, peeps.


	11. Walk Away

I'm sorry I left you guys with such an awful cliffhanger and then didn't publish for weeks, but my schedule got suddenly busy.

Please don't hate me. :)

* * *

><p>There was a nasty sound. Like cutting into a cardboard package. Then a soft, splattering sound, and a coppery smell.<p>

Gold slowly opened his eyes. He saw the poacher almost on top of him and gasped so hard in shock, it made his throat hurt. He scrambled away from the man—or tried to. His palms slipped on the grass and he almost fell. He looked around and saw blood drenched the grass and himself.

Zack dropped to his knees, and then the ground, released from whatever spell had been holding him up, revealing the hilt of a familiar knife jutting from his back. Silver stood nearby, wild-eyed, panting, and a holding a black Pokéball. He was also covered in blood.

"Silver?" Gold whispered in confusion. Nothing was adding up to him.

Silver swallowed hard and suddenly seemed to realize the situation. He yelped and dropped the red-tainted Pokéball in his hand.

Xatu squawked in rage and pain. Before it could attack Silver, the Feraligatr grabbed it in a headlock.

Gold met Silver's eyes and he noticed the bright silver gaze was even brighter with shock.

Silver spoke. "I-I used the Xatu," he explained, stammering. "The same way the poacher killed Lance…He couldn't kill you, not you…"

Gold slowly tried to stand up and somehow managed it. He assessed the damage and found that he was just sore and in need of a bath.

"I killed him," Silver whispered.

Gold looked up at him curiously. He wanted to reply instinctively, _Yeah, you sure did_, but something held him back. Maybe the feeling of blood drying on his face and hands.

The Dragonite came wandering over and whined at Silver.

The redhead looked up at the Pokémon and frowned in unpleasant surprise. "You're Lance's Dragonite," he commented.

It whined again, then leaned over and nuzzled Silver.

Gold noticed his hands were shaking and grimaced. "Silver," he murmured and coughed. "Um…"

Silver looked over Gold with a strange look on his face as he stroked Dragonite's muzzle. "You're going to be fine, Gold," he finally murmured. He turned back to the Dragonite. "You're free if you want to leave," he informed it.

The Pokémon crooned and folded its wings, looking confused. It shook its head and sniffed at the breeze, found something it liked, and unfurled its wings again to take off with a blast of air.

They watched it leave then Silver, reminded of the other Pokémon, went to take care of them.

The newly freed Meganium and red Gyarados circled around, making happy roars and chirps at being reunited with at least one of their masters. The Houndoom and Scizor crouched near the poacher, prodding him and whimpering in a baffled way. The two of them were covered in wounds from Dragonite. The Xatu was keening and writhing in a desperate attempt to get loose and wreak havoc.

Silver suddenly spun, that same strange look in his eyes. "Stop that, or I'll have Feraligatr knock you out!" he snapped.

The Xatu hissed in defiance and Silver opened his mouth to order Feraligatr to shut it up.

"Silver!" Gold burst out, surprising the redhead. "What are you doing?"

The other trainer glanced back at him, now hesitant. "It's annoying me…"

"Don't hurt it!" Gold exclaimed. "Just put it away! What's wrong with you?"

Silver winced and it struck a suspicious cord in Gold. Clearly something was indeed wrong. He spoke carefully. "It wouldn't be right to hurt it. Just return them to their Pokéballs and we'll hand them to the police. It'll be fine."

Slowly the fire went out of Silver's gaze. When it did, he started shaking and kept looking over his hands. "Gold, I'm scared," he murmured. "I don't regret that at all, but I'm scared…" He looked up suddenly and Gold was startled by the remorse he saw there. "You don't hate me, do you?"

Gold jerked in surprise. "Of course I don't hate you!" he exclaimed. He walked over more slowly than he normally would have, in case Silver spooked, and hugged him. "Silver, I've been with you for months now. You saved my life. Why would I hate you for that?"

"I killed someone," he whispered, sounding distraught.

"You killed a bad person to save me," Gold replied. He tightened his grip, thinking, _Only to me will Silver show how upset his is about something, only to me would he say these things._ "I don't hate you, I promise."

Silver hugged him back tightly. "I'm sorry," he said and began to cry, releasing the tension he'd been holding back. "I'm so, so sorry about what I did to you!"

Gold pressed his face into the red hair. He had forgiven Silver by now. "It's okay," he whispered. "It's over now."

...

Gold spent another couple of days in the hospital, but this time they were just repairing his tattered neck and hand. He didn't like recalling how many stitches there were in him at the moment. He also would apparently have a scar on his neck, which irritated him slightly. Stupid poacher just HAD to leave his mark somewhere besides their memories. Silver got out of going to the hospital because he didn't really have too many wounds; they just checked him over.

Quite a few authorities wanted to try Silver for the murder of the poacher. They argued he should have just waited for the police to get there. The others replied that it was a self-defense case and would be a waste of time in the courts. And how could Silver have held up against the criminal if he was about to kill the other boy, the one who had been defenseless?

Gold was appalled that such a conversation was even necessary, but he knew Silver inwardly agreed that he should be held responsible for the killing. Gold found himself pacing his room late at night after they released him from questioning, unable to sleep, wishing he could see Silver.

They finally decided to let the redhead go. Gold was over at the station about an hour early, eager to see his boyfriend and best friend again. He felt a huge knot of tension and excitement in his stomach. He didn't know how Silver would react, since the last time they saw each other, they were being led to separate rooms for questioning.

When Silver walked out, most of the anxiety dropped away and he just felt happy to see the redhead. He watched the other trainer walk over with what he hoped wasn't a dorky smile, although he didn't care too much. Silver looked up and saw him with Sneasel on his shoulder.

Silver looked shocked and Gold's grin spread until he felt his face was going to crack. He walked up to meet Silver and stopped a few feet away, wanting to give him some space. He felt the Pokémon shivering on his shoulder and ran a hand over its head.

The other trainer had an empty look on his face now, like he was hiding something. He looked like the old Silver, the one that didn't talk much. He murmured, "Sneasel, come here."

Gold felt the ice-type's intense reluctance; it had come to like the more expressive and friendly Silver. But it went to him obediently, jumping up onto his shoulder, and chirping a greeting into the redhead's ear.

Gold's nervousness was back somewhat, but he refused to let his smile waver. "Hey, Silv," he said.

He found himself drowning in the usual metallic depths, but this time, it was cold, and the black-haired trainer wanted out. He tore his gaze away and then looked back, his smile gone at this point. "What's the matter?" he asked, frowning. "Aren't we supposed to have some heart-felt reunion?"

Silver just gazed at him levelly. Then he took a deep breath and said, "Gold…we need to start over."

The trainer frowned further, confused. "What do you mean, start over?"

Silver looked sad now. He scratched Sneasel's ear as he replied, "I want to restart our relationship completely. It's so full of bad memories for me right now. I'm actually scared of what might happen if I'm with you." He grimaced. "And what I might do to you. I don't want to hurt you anymore."

Gold twisted his hat thoughtfully. "I see what you mean, about the bad memories," he replied finally. "So do I have to get you to like me again, or can we just skip to the dating and kissing part?"

Silver chuckled, finally looking a little more relaxed. "Dating first. You've already managed the liking part for the majority of our friendship."

Gold walked forward and thrust a hand out, startling Silver. "Silver of Johto, will you go out with me?" he inquired seriously.

Silver blinked in surprise, then burst out laughing. He grabbed Gold's hand and shook it with a smirk. "Do you even have any plans yet?"

"Well, not yet, but I'll work out the details later," the black-haired trainer replied sheepishly.

Silver nodded. "Call me then."

"Will do."

They exchanged an awkward silence. Gold wanted to kiss Silver, and Silver wanted to be kissed. But after their conversation, it didn't seem appropriate.

Finally Gold poked Silver in the forehead and said, "See ya soon."

Silver smiled a hair. "Yeah."

Then Gold did what he never thought he would do.

He walked away.

* * *

><p>It's not the end, do not fear! Well, technically that would be a good standard ending, but I hate it when stories end like that, so I won't push that on you guys, either.<p>

I'm sorry this is a heinously short chapter and filled with disappointing stuffs. DX

Poacher's dead. No more evil bad guy fun :(

Need to go back over all the chapters and fix my little mistakes...I reread the whole thing and found it full of little typos -lesigh- And I didn't realize the italics were gone in the last chapter. Will fix that.

I'm now going to make you wait a long time (probably) again, because I have some beautiful writer's block for the next chapter. It may be in Silver's POV again, not sure...

Also, feel free to recommend a pairing for my next long story. I'm not quite sure who I'm going to write about, but it looks like Originalshipping so far.

Reviews are always nice X3 thank you~

Edit: Went through and corrected all the little mistakes in the story. Please tell me if you notice one-not including the ' over the e in Pokemon. Also, it's not that I'm blowing you off when I don't reply to your reviews, it's just I'm not sure whether I _should _reply or not. ^^' It's...complicated XP


	12. Until Forever Ends

Sorry it's been so long, again. DX I had to rewrite this a couple times.

* * *

><p>Gold shifted from one foot to another nervously, considering his position.<p>

The trainer across the gym from him snickered and shouted, "Come on, Gold, let's move it!"

"Shut it, Red!" he hissed in retaliation and looked over the battlefield. One of the main reasons Red was such an excellent trainer was because he had a good eye for strategy. Gold, on the other hand, was highly impulsive, and it was showing quite fiercely at the moment. "Damn it," he muttered and retrieved his Pichu. "I forfeit!"

Red burst out laughing, making Gold scowl irritably. He trotted over, grinning like a kid, and asked, "What's with that, kiddo? That was pathetic!"

Gold opened his mouth to retort, but found it closing. His head lowered as he contemplated the truth—things with Silver weren't going as well as he had hoped they would.

Red frowned and asked, "Is it Silver?"

The other trainer took off his cap, ignoring his horrible hat hair, and twisted it around his hands. "He's not recovering as well as we had hoped," he muttered. "He still wakes up screaming sometimes. He acts normal, but sometimes I catch him with a sad look on his face. I think he feels guilty for killing the poacher."

Red crossed his arms, thinking on how to answer that. "Sometimes killing someone can do that to a good person," he remarked.

"I know. But it affected him so badly! Sometimes I catch him looking over his hands. I really wish he wouldn't do that, because I feel self-conscious." He turned over his left hand and examined the patchwork of scarring there left from a certain knife.

Red hummed thoughtfully at that. "Do you want help with him?" he asked curiously.

Gold shook his head. "Nah, I'm sure he'll come around—he's too smart to stay like this forever. It just sucks to watch."

Red nodded. "Well, I think we're done for today. You going home?"

Gold kicked at the ground with a small smile. "Going to see Silver."

Red tilted his head. "Despite his, erm, troubles, seeing him still makes you so happy, doesn't it?"

Gold smiled a little more and replied, "Yup. Because I love him. And because…" his smile turned a little sad "…because I'm thankful both of us are still alive." He ran a hand over the scar across his throat, a habit he had picked up whenever thinking about the Poacher.

Red flicked his forehead and said, "Have fun, then. Come on, Pika!" The Pikachu, which had been faintly dozing nearby, stood and gave itself a shake, then ran up to Red and clambered up his shoulder.

Gold watched them go for a while until the lights clicked off and he was left to his thoughts in the dark gym, his metallic eyes shining in the shadows.

...

Silver frowned thoughtfully at his reflection. He looked like crap. Normally, he wouldn't care—it wasn't like he ever saw anyone—but these days, he did care. He didn't want to let on to Gold just how badly it was affecting him, knowing he had spilt someone else's blood.

He shivered and sank to the ground, grinding the heel of his hands into his eyes, reliving those moments. How relieved he felt as he watched the poacher sink to the ground, a knife in him, knowing that no one else would die. But then the blood had begun to pour and there was just so much!

Silver shudder and fought the urge to break into hysterical tears. This was just simple trauma. He could overcome it…

"Silver?"

The redhead looked up and saw Gold looked down at him, a hand on the doorframe. "Oh, Gold!" he exclaimed, struggling to his feet. "You're here already?"

Gold gave him a sad look that said he was failing at acting normal. "Are you thinking about that again?" he asked, sounding a tad exasperated. He unconsciously started running his free hand over his scar. Silver flinched, and he stopped. "Please, stop. Thinking about that isn't going to fix anything."

Silver stood up, smiling a little. "I know. I can't help it. So, hey, let's go hang out."

Gold slid his arms around Silver's waist and gave him a signature grin. "I was kind of hoping we could just hang around here, actually."

Silver's eyebrows shot up. "Here?" he inquired. "What is there to do here?"

"Watch a movie, be all romantic, yadayada," Gold replied, pressing his forehead to Silver's.

They got lost in each other eyes, thinking about all they had been through, and wishing they hadn't. But something in the way Gold was looking at him…Silver felt the wounds of the past healing, his guilt over killing a person fading. He had killed that man to save _this_. This amazing person. Why would he regret that?

Gold gave him a cheeky grin. "Am I really that pretty?" he asked. "You're relaxing."

"You're plain amazing," Silver replied bluntly and felt proud when Gold blushed. That wasn't easy to do.

"Before you two start making out or something worse…" someone remarked from the doorway and they both turned to see Crys standing there with an amused smile. "Just letting you know I'm here. And there's food. And no, I'm not leaving, sorry."

Gold stuck his tongue out at her and turned back around to give Silver a kiss that had Crys protesting. But then he grinned at the redhead again before obediently following the girl out and into the living room where the pizza was.

Silver sat in silence in the bathroom for a while, thinking. He glanced up and saw his reflection and was surprised. A silly grin was on his face, and he didn't look nearly as sickly as he had a while ago. Gold was his savior, not the other way around. He shook his head at himself and joined his best friends in the living room, exclaiming loudly when he found someone had managed to drop a piece on the floor. Groaning theatrically, he went to get something to clean it up with, still smiling.

...

Gold hugged himself close to Silver, nuzzling into the thick red hair. He knew Crys was asleep on the floor in front of the TV and his boyfriend was engrossed in the movie. He moved the hair out of the way and whispered in Silver's ear, "Hey, are you actually-?"

Silver cut him off by covering his mouth with a hand. "Yes I am," he replied quietly. "Shhh."

After he took away his hand, Gold returned to pressing his nose to the back of Silver's head, arms wrapped around Silver's waist where they were lying on the couch. He winced as he moved his arm underneath the redhead and found it was asleep. "Hey, Silv—"

"Shhh!" the redhead growled and Gold rolled his eyes.

"I was going to ask if you could please get off my arm before it shuts down completely."

Silver muttered, "Oh," and sat up momentarily so Gold could pull it out before lying down again, but this time facing him.

Gold found himself sinking, again, into metallic depths. But it was just too enjoyable to look away.

To his surprise, the redhead murmured, "You know you're amazing, right?"

"Well, you told me that earlier," he hummed. "But I'm nothing. You…You're pretty special."

Silver wrinkled his nose. "Why would you say that?" he inquired, his tone implying that he disagreed.

"Because you went through all that crap as a kid, then you went through a bunch of crap not too long ago, then you lost your boyfriend, then you went through all this junk with the poacher," Gold replied, unsure of how to clarify. "But you're still you. Despite all that happened, you still have a heart, you're not depressed. I just wish it hadn't happened to you."

Silver lidded his eyes thoughtfully. "You can say that," he murmured. "But I basically betrayed you all the times I ignored that I liked you, then I made it worse by telling you, then didn't break up with Lance right when I noticed I loved you. I killed someone, I've stolen from people."

Gold sighed and moved a strand of hair of the other person's face. "You really don't like being complimented, do you?" he joked with a small smile.

Silver smiled in reply. "No."

Gold shook his head and checked the time. "We're not getting to sleep anytime soon, and now I feel like I need to burn off energy. How about a battle?"

Silver considered suggesting something else—then decided not to. That would come later. "Ok," he replied, standing and going to gather his Pokeballs.

They went outside and faced off, Gold grinning, happy as usual, Silver with a challenging smirk.

As they released their first Pokémon, Gold wondered how he could have ever thought he was just a replacement to this person. He knew now he never had been. And it made him happy to think that he would never need a replacement.

They were together as long as forever lasted.

The End

* * *

><p>Inspired by the quote "I should know better than anyone what it means to be a replacement."<p>

It's not quite the ending I would have expected, but I have never EVER finished a story of mine before. X3 It's quite an achievement, actually. If I ever get the inspiration to write a better ending, I might, but this is most likely it.

Thanks for sticking with me through all the chapters! I will be starting two long stories soon, although we'll see if that's me biting off more than I can chew, heheh. One is kingdom hearts and the other is Isshushipping!

Random facts:

~I didn't expect this to be my first long story on here! I thought that would be an originalshipping. I even had one started. However, I saw a picture of Gold with that quote on it and suddenly this was born.

~The whole reason Lance was there is because I honestly can see Silver being gay even in canon, and I was really into Championshipping at the time, and Lance is way too fun...as well as the word "genecidal." XD I just HAD to include that. Such a fun word, such a horrible word.

~This chapter was actually originally a lot of Silver thinking about blood and going almost crazy. But I thought that wouldn't go under the T rating, and it would've lengthened the story, but I didn't want thirteen chapters...I'm weird, I like even numbers.

I think that's all I got right now...Please tell me what you think! Of the whole story, not just this chapter. Or just this chapter, either way works.

Thanks~! ^^


End file.
